[NOTE: The works on this topic must be used with more than ordinary care. Some are distinctly Catholic, going out of their way to say nothing disparaging about the Church, its activities, or any person in it. Some are Catholic, but distinctly Republican, and thus severely critical of the Papacy and College of Cardinals as institutions (and as persons) and even more critical of the papal monarchy. Others are distinctly Protestant, not only critical of the Roman Church as an institution, but willing to put the most negative construction on every word and action of its members.
In addition, a conclave is an occasion at which competing and contradictory interests converge. The European monarchies and lesser states have their goals, interests, and agenda. Cardinals often have national, ethnic, and linguistic loyalties, though they may also be taking retainers (pensions) from several states for their services and good will. Cardinals also have their own individual personal ambitions, friends, enemies, and goals; sometimes this includes the Throne of Peter. The members of the Roman Curia, who are present in the conclave, also have their own interests to protect.
[See: Mario Biagioli, Galileo, Courtier (Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1993), pp. 313-329; T. A. Trollope, The Papal Conclaves, (1876), 226-227; and W. Cartwright, On the Constitution of Papal Conclaves (1878) 66-78.]
© 2008 John Paul Adams
John Paul Adams, CSUN
john.p.adams@csun.edu