In God's Name

by David Yallop

  On Saturday morning, August 26th, after they had celebrated Mass and breakfasted, the cardinals walked to their allotted chairs in the Sistine Chapel. The rules urged that each cardinal disguise his handwriting on the voting card which was so designed that when folded in two it was reduced in size to about one inch. After scrutineers were appointed to check the votes, three more cardinals were appointed to scrutinize the scrutineers. The two-thirds plus one was Pope Paul’s safeguard against a cardinal voting for himself.

  Eventually, with the temperature as well as the tension mounting, the first ballot began.*

  After the ballot cards had been counted, checked, checked again and then checked for a third time to ensure that no cardinal had voted twice, the cards were then carefully threaded together, recounted, rechecked and placed in a designated box for subsequent burning. The voting on the first ballot produced the following result:

  Siri 25 votes

  Luciani 23 votes

  Pignedoli 18 votes

  Lorscheider 12 votes

  Baggio 9 votes

  The remaining 24 were scattered. The Italians, Bertoli and Felici, the Argentinian, Pironio and the Polish cardinal, Karol Wojtyla received votes, as did Cardinals Cordeiro of Pakistan and Franz Koenig of Austria.

  Albino Luciani had listened with growing incredulity as the scrutineer called out his name twenty-three times. When a number of the cardinals sitting nearby had turned and smiled at him he merely shook his head, bemused. How could it be that he had obtained so many votes?

  Cardinals Benelli, Suenens and Marty could have supplied the answer. They had created what they considered to be a successful base from which to promote Luciani. Apart from these three, also voting for Luciani on the first ballot was an international cross-section of cardinals. From France, Renard and Gouyon; from Holland, Willebrands and Alfrink; Koenig of Austria; Volk and Hoeffner of Germany; Malula of Zaire; Nsubuga of Uganda; Thiandoum of Dakar; Gantin from Benin; Colombo of Milan; Pelligrino of Turin; Ursi of Naples; Poma of Bologna; Cooke of New York; Lorscheider of Brazil; Ekandem of Nigeria; Wojtyla of Cracow; Sin of Manila.

  Unaware of the identities of his supporters, Luciani concluded that this aberration would correct itself at the second vote, and, reaching for another voting card, again wrote the name of Aloisio Lorscheider upon it.

  The Curial cardinals were eyeing Luciani with renewed interest. Their first task had been to halt the Pignedoli campaign for the Papacy. The second ballot confirmed they had achieved that object.

  Siri 35 votes

  Luciani 30 votes

  Pignedoli 15 votes

  Lorscheider 12 votes

  The remaining 19 votes were again scattered.

  The voting papers together with those from the first ballot were stuffed into the antiquated stove, the ‘nero’ handle was pulled and black smoke, instead of emerging outside on the roof promptly filled the Sistine Chapel. Despite the fact that the funeral of Pope Paul and the Conclave were costing the Church several million dollars, some Vatican official decided to save a lira or two and had decreed that the chimney should not be swept. The result, with all windows sealed, threatened to bring the Conclave to a sudden and dramatic end. The late Pope had not foreseen the possibility of all 111 cardinals being suffocated to death but he had provided for several members of the Vatican fire brigade to be locked in the area. They promptly risked excommunication by opening several windows.

  Eventually some of the black smoke made its way out of the Sistine Chapel chimney and Vatican Radio confirmed that the morning had not produced a Pope. Many Vatican experts had predicted a long Conclave, reasoning that it would take a great deal of time for 111 men from around the world to arrive at any form of relative unanimity. Seeing the black smoke, the pundits nodded sagely and continued in their attempts to prise from the Vatican Press office such vital details as the lunch menu in the Conclave.

  The biggest and most diverse Conclave in the Church’s entire history moved hastily out of the Sistine Chapel to the temporary canteen.

  The third ballot would be crucial. Siri and Luciani were finely balanced. While a very troubled Patriarch of Venice picked at his food, others were busy. Giovanni Benelli talked quietly to the cardinals from Latin America. They had made their point, he assured them, but clearly a Pope from the Third World was not going to emerge during this Conclave. Did they want a man like Siri with his reactionary views on the throne? Why not a man who, if not from the Third World, clearly loved it? It was no secret, Benelli told them, that Luciani was voting for their own Aloisio Lorscheider.

  In fact Benelli was in danger of gilding the lily. The cardinals from Latin America had done their homework to a far greater degree than any other geographical group. Aware that their chances of electing Lorscheider were not great they had, before the Conclave, prepared a short list of non-Curial Italians. One of the men with whom they discussed the list was Father Bartolomeo Sorge, a Jesuit priest based in Rome. During a two-hour discussion Sorge pointed out the various aspects for and against each of the possibles. The name that had emerged was Albino Luciani. Father Sorge recalled for me his final words of advice to the group of cardinals:

  If you want to elect a Pope who will help to build up the Church in the world, then you should vote for Luciani. But remember he is not a man who is accustomed to governing, consequently he will need a good Secretary of State.

  As the quiet buzz of conversation continued, Cardinals Suenens, Marty and Gantin, less flamboyantly but with equal effectiveness, spoke to others who were still wavering. Koenig of Vienna quietly remarked to those sitting near him that non-Italians should have no objection to another Italian as their spiritual leader.

  The Curia were also considering their options over lunch. It had been a good morning for them. They had stopped Pignedoli. Siri, their candidate that morning, had clearly reached his maximum position. Despite all the pressure they had exerted before the Conclave it was now obvious to Felici and his clique that the left and the centre could not be drawn in sufficient numbers to Siri. Luciani, the quiet man from Venice, would surely be easy to control in the Vatican. Those who yearned for a pre-Vatican II Papacy were not convinced. They pointed out that Luciani more than any other Italian cardinal had put into practice the spirit of Pope John’s Vatican Council.

  In England everything stops for tea. In Italy the same state of suspended animation is achieved during siesta. While some lingered in the dining hall, talking quietly, others retired to their rooms to sleep. In cell 60, Albino Luciani knelt and prayed.

  ‘You can’t make gnocchi out of this dough,’ Luciani had remarked to several well-wishers before the Conclave. It now appeared that a significant number of his fellow cardinals disagreed with this self-evaluation.

  Through prayer he sought the answer, not to the ultimate result of the balloting, but to what he should do if elected. Luciani, who had never wanted to be anything other than a parish priest, stood on the threshold of the most powerful position in the Roman Catholic Church and went down on his knees earnestly to entreat his God to choose someone else.

  Emerging from his cell at 4.00 p.m. Luciani was warmly embraced by Cardinal Joseph Malula from Zaire. Full of joy Malula offered his congratulations.

  Luciani shook his head sadly. ‘A great storm is troubling me,’ he said as the two men made their way back for the third ballot.

  Luciani 68 votes

  Siri 15 votes

  Pignedoli 10 votes

  The remaining 18 votes on the ballot were scattered. Albino Luciani was now within seven votes of the Papacy. With a hand to his forehead he was heard to murmur, ‘No. Please no.’

  It was Cardinals Willebrands and Riberio, seated either side of Luciani, who heard the entreaty. Both men instinctively reached out and gripped Luciani. Willebrands spoke quietly. ‘Courage. If the Lord gives the burden, he also gives the strength to carry it.’

  Riberio nodded and then added, ‘The whole world prays for the new Pope.’

  The
re was no doubt whatsoever in the minds of many present that the Holy Spirit was manifest on that hot afternoon. Others took a more cynical view of what was inspiring the Conclave. Taofina’y of Samoa was heard to murmur, ‘Power in the form of man, or rather a cardinal of the Curia.’ His eyes were fastened on Felici when he made this observation.

  Felici, who had spent the morning voting for Siri, now approached Albino Luciani. He handed him an envelope with the remark, ‘A message for the new Pope’. The piece of paper within contained the words ‘Via Crucia’, a symbol of the way of the Cross.

  There was great excitement in the Conclave. Many were now convinced that they were acting by Divine inspiration. Dispensing with the late Pope’s instructions that each cardinal should swear a solemn oath each time before voting, the fourth ballot began.

  Luciani 99 votes

  Siri 11 votes

  Lorscheider 1 vote (that of Albino Luciani)

  As the final vote was announced there was a tremendous burst of applause from the gathering. The time was 6.05 p.m. A clique of Siri supporters, members of the intransigent right, had held out to the end. The doors of the Chapel opened and various Masters of Ceremonies came, accompanying the Camerlengo Villot, to where Albino Luciani sat. Villot spoke.

  ‘Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff?’

  All eyes were upon Luciani. Cardinal Ciappi described for me that moment. ‘He was sitting three rows behind me. Even at the moment of his election he was hesitating, Cardinal Villot put the question to him and he continued to hesitate. Cardinals Willebrands and Ribeno were clearly encouraging him.’

  Luciani eventually responded. ‘May God forgive you for what you have done in my regard.’ Then he added, ‘I accept.’

  ‘By what name do you wish to be called?’ asked Villot.

  Luciani hesitated again. Then for the first time he smiled: ‘John Paul the First’.

  There were murmurs of delight from some of the listening cardinals. The name was an innovation, the first double name in the history of the Papacy. Tradition holds that by the choice of name a Pope gives an indication of the direction his reign may take. Hence the choice of Pius would have delighted the right wing, indicating perhaps a return to a pre-conciliar Church. What message Luciani was sending out with his choice of name depended on what message his listeners wanted to receive.

  Why had Luciani, a man without ambition, accepted this position that for a number of other cardinals present would have been the realization of their life’s ambition?

  The answer, like much about this simple man, is complex. Research indicates that he was overwhelmed by the speed and size of the vote. Many spoke to me of this aspect. It is perhaps best summarized by a member of the Curia who had a close, twenty-year friendship with Albino Luciani.

  He was distressed by it. If he had not been so overwhelmed by the sheer quantity, if events had moved more slowly, taken the Conclave into a second day, he would have had time to gather himself and refuse; and yet, if he had decided in that Conclave that he was not the man to become Pope he would have refused. He was one of the strongest men I have known in thirty years in the Curia.

  There is also the vital element of Luciani’s personal humility. Describing the acceptance of the Papacy as an act of humility may appear to be contradictory. To equate the taking of supreme power with meekness is, in fact, entirely consistent if the last thing you want on earth is supreme power.

  Inside the Conclave, as the new Pope was led to the Sacristy, all was joy. Outside all was confusion. While the Gammarelli brothers, tailors to the Vatican, tried to find a Papal white cassock that fitted, the cardinals were merrily burning their voting papers with the special chemical that was designed to ensure white smoke for the watching world. The watching world saw first white smoke, then a short while later, puffs of black (indicating that the Church was still without a Pope) emerge from the small chimney. The smoke had begun to emerge at 6.24 p.m. As it continued to belch out in a variety of hues, the Gammarelli brothers inside were not having any better luck with the white cassocks. Normally before a Conclave they made three: small, medium and large. This time, working from a list of twelve papabili, they had produced four, including an extra large one. The slightly-built Luciani had obviously not featured on their short-list of fancied cardinals. Eventually, nearly drowning in his new cassock, he emerged from the Sacristy and, sitting on a chair in front of the altar, received each cardinal who, having kissed Luciani’s hand, was then warmly embraced by the new Pope.

  Suenens, one of the cardinals largely responsible for this election, observed ‘Holy Father, thank you for saying “yes”.

  Luciani smiled broadly at him. ‘Perhaps it would have been better if I had said “no”.’

  Thc cardinals in charge of the stove were still happily throwing on voting papers and a large bundle of chemical candles which were supposed to produce the elusive white smoke. Vatican Radio manifestly knew less about what was going on than anyone else and uttered the remarkable statement: ‘We can now say with total certainty that the smoke is either black or white.’ In fact at that moment it was grey.

  Vatican Radio telephoned the home and office of the Gammarelli brothers and obtained no answer. The brothers meanwhile were in the Sacristy attempting to fasten the blame on someone else over the fiasco of the white cassocks. It was rapidly becoming one of those operas that only Italians can stage.

  Meanwhile, inside the Sistine Chapel, the cardinals had started to sing the Te Deum, the Hymn of Thanksgiving.

  Outside, Father Roberto Tucci, the Jesuit director of Vatican Radio, was observed hurtling towards the bronze door of the Papal Palace across the Piazza. The Captain of the Swiss Guard, who was obliged to greet the new Pope with a loyal salute of his men, was interrogating the guard who said there had been a burst of clapping when, to his astonishment, he heard the Te Deum. That meant but one thing – whoever he was, they had a Pope. The problem was he did not have a retinue of guards ready.

  Assuming the multi-coloured smoke indicated a deadlocked Conclave, the crowds in the Square had largely dispersed, when a voice boomed out on the massive loudspeaker address.

  ‘Attenzione.’

  People began to hurry back into the Square. The large door behind the balcony of St Peter’s swung open. Figures could be seen emerging on the balcony itself . . . It was now 7.18 p.m., over an hour since the election. Senior Cardinal Deacon Felici appeared on the balcony and suddenly the crowd below was still.

  Among that crowd was Luciani’s secretary, Don Diego Lorenzi. He was standing next to a family from Sweden who had asked him what work he did. Young Lorenzi remarked, ‘I am in Rome for a few days. I work in Venice.’ Then he turned his gaze to the figure of Felici on the balcony.

  ‘Annuncio vobis gaudium magnum: Habemus Papam’ – ‘I bring you news of great joy! We have a Pope’ – ‘Cardinalem Albinum Luciani.’

  At the mention of the name ‘Albinum’ Lorenzi turned back to the Swedish family. Tears were running down his face. He smiled then said proudly, ‘I am the secretary of the newly-elected Pope.’

  The roar from the crowd had almost drowned the ‘Luciani’. When Felici continued, ‘who has chosen the name John Paul the First,’ there was a bedlam of noise. Many, indeed most, had never heard of Luciani but what mattered was that they had a Pope. The personal reaction came a short while later when Albino Luciani stepped on to the balcony. The enduring memory is of that smile. It touched the very soul. The man exuded delight and joy. Whatever else this Papacy was going to be it was going to be fun. After the gloom and agonizing of Paul the contrast was an extraordinary shock. As the new Pope intoned the blessing ‘Urbi et Orbi’, to the city and the world, the effect was similar to a burst of bright dazzling sun after an eternity of dark days.

  In a moment he was gone, only to return. The Captain of the Swiss Guard had finally assembled a battalion. Albino Luciani waved and smiled. That smile reached out to everyone. The man from the mountains of nort
hern Italy, who as a small boy had wanted more than anything to be a parish priest, stood on St Peter’s balcony on the evening of Saturday, August 26th, 1978 as Pope John Paul I.

  Luciani kept the Conclave in session that night. Having sat down to dinner in his previously assigned place, one of his first thoughts was for the over-age excluded cardinals. They had already been given the election result by telephone. Now Luciani invited them into the Conclave for the following morning’s Mass.

  The Secretariat of State had already prepared a speech which in theory was intended to indicate the direction of the new Papacy, any new Papacy. Luciani took the speech and, retiring to cell 60, altered and amended what had initially been vague statements about love, peace and war to a number of specifics.

  The speech was delivered at the end of the Mass of Thanksgiving celebrated the following morning. Luciani pledged his pontificate to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. He placed a high value on collegiality, the sharing of power with his bishops. He declared that he intended to bring back into force the great discipline of the Church and to this end he gave high priority to the revision of the two codes of Canon Law. Union with other denominations would be pursued without compromise to the Church’s teachings but equally without hesitation.

  The central thrust of the speech revealed that this man who described himself in Venice as ‘a poor man accustomed to small things, and silence’ had a dream: a revolutionary dream. He gave notice of his intention to pursue the pastoralization of the entire Church, indeed of the entire world.