Hadrian the Seventh · Chapter
II explained
The Conclave continues with the cardinals employing the Way of Compromise, appointing nine Cardinal-Compromissaries to elect a new pope.
What happens
The Conclave continues with the cardinals employing the Way of Compromise, appointing nine Cardinal-Compromissaries to elect a new pope. After multiple scrutinies and accessions, no candidate achieves the required majority, resulting in black smoke from the Vatican chimney. Private negotiations and canvassing intensify as the cardinals prepare for further votes.
Themes in this chapter
Power and Corruption
The cardinals engage in political maneuvering, promises, and canvassing, highlighting the worldly ambitions and compromises within the Church hierarchy.
Religion and Hypocrisy
The contrast between the sacred ritual of electing a pope and the self-interested politicking of the cardinals underscores religious hypocrisy.
Characters to notice
- Mariano Ragna
Disclaims personal predilection for Orezzo; becomes a key candidate with 13 votes in the first scrutiny.
- Cardinal Courtleigh
Appointed as a Compromissary; spends evening alone reading archiepiscopal correspondence and reflecting.
- Cardinal Nefski
Appointed as a Compromissary; walks with della Volta and says mattins and lauds together.
- Cardinal Gentilotto
Appointed as a Compromissary; paces galleries with Fiamma; receives 12 votes in the first scrutiny.
- Fiamma
Appointed as a Compromissary; paces with Gentilotto; receives 13 votes in the first scrutiny.
- Luigi Orezzo
Candidate with 8 votes in the first scrutiny; gains two additional votes in the second scrutiny.
- Serafino Vagellaio
Proposes the Way of Compromise; candidate with 11 votes in the first scrutiny.
- Cardinal Moccolo
Acts as Cardinal-Scrutator; draws suffrages from the chalice during the scrutiny.
Key passages
“The cardinalitial mask is as superior (in impenetrable pachydermatosity) to that of the proverbial public-schoolboy, as is the cuticle of a crocodile to that of pulex irritans.”
A cardinal's face is far more inscrutable than a schoolboy's, as a crocodile's hide is thicker than a flea's skin.
Highlights the cardinals' practiced emotional concealment during the Conclave.
“Reading helps thought: it is as a strong arm supporting feeble steps: it is as the pinions upon which thought can fly: or it is inspiration.”
Reading aids thinking, supporting weak ideas and allowing them to soar like wings.
Reflects Cardinal Courtleigh's method of preparing for decision-making.