The Remnant Newspaper has made a stunning unsubstantiated claim about Pope Francis and the next papal conclave:

“The document under review would exclude from the General Congregations preceding the beginning of a papal election all non-voting cardinals, that is, all cardinals who have reached the age of eighty.”
[…]
“The Remnant has also learned that Cardinal Ghirlanda is seeking to convince Pope Francis to undertake a truly revolutionary act, by revolutionizing who elects the Pope. Professing to “return to the early Church”, the idea would be to have cardinal-electors, the majority of whom Pope Francis has chosen, comprise seventy-five percent of the vote, while the remaining twenty-five percent would be made up of laymen and women and religious sisters, papally appointed by Pope Francis in advance of the Apostolic See becoming vacant.”

However, LifeSiteNews has now contradicted this claim:

“In an exclusive statement provided to LifeSiteNews on Sunday evening, Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, S.J., rejected as “absolutely false” reports that he is in the midst of plans to reform the manner of electing a new Pope.”

Both sources, The Remnant and LifeSiteNews, have been vehemently opposed to the pontificate of Pope Francis for many years, and both oppose Vatican II. So I would question the reliability of these reports. UPDATE: The Holy See has now officially denied that such a plan is being considered [Source ]

However, let’s examine the theological implications and question of validity of the claimed change to papal conclaves.

According to “Universi Dominici Gregis” by Pope Saint John Paul II, in accord with an earlier provision instituted by Pope Saint Paul VI: “those Cardinals who celebrate their eightieth birthday before the day when the Apostolic See becomes vacant do not take part in the election.” [Universi Dominici Gregis, introduction] The Cardinals over 80 are non-voting Cardinals; the other Cardinals are Cardinal-electors.

Occasionally, the Roman Pontiffs have seen fit to appoint as Cardinal persons who are not also ordained as Bishops. Cardinal Avery Dulles was a priest, and was not elevated to the episcopate upon being made Cardinal. Pope Pius XII appointed a layman as a Cardinal during his pontificate. However, UDG does not explicitly exclude non-Bishop Cardinals from the vote in the papal conclave.

The first claim being made about future conclaves is that non-voting Cardinals — those 80 years of age or older — will be excluded from the pre-conclave meetings of the “General Congregation” (the body of Cardinals of any age). These meetings are said, by some critics of Pope Francis, to be where the Cardinals develop ideas on whom they might elect. The Remnant article claims the following:

“Many contend that the Pope is made in the General Congregations, as it is in this preparatory phase that the problems facing the Church, and the qualities needed in a suitable candidate, are discussed.”

But these meetings will still occur (if the claims made about rules for future conclave are even correct). The difference is that only voting-Cardinals will be having these advance discussions. There is nothing in principle wrong with allowing only those who are authorized to vote for the next Pope to discuss the possible candidates. Older Cardinals and other persons in the Church can certainly discuss who should be the next Pope at any time.

The main reason for an objection on this point, raised by the very conservative opponents of Pope Francis, seems to be that the Cardinals over 80 are largely those appointed by previous Popes, while more of those under 80 have been appointed by Pope Francis. They don’t want supporters of Pope Francis to have influence over who is elected the next Pope.

But I believe that God chooses each Pope by His providence and grace. It is a common expression used by many past Roman Pontiffs, and one Pope or another was made Pope “by Divine Providence”. It is rather faithless to speak as if the election of each Roman Pontiff were merely of human and political influences.

The other claim being made about future conclaves is that Pope Francis is planning to allow 25% of the voting members of the conclave to be “laymen and women and religious sisters, papally appointed by Pope Francis”. This claim is, prima facie, hard to believe. If Pope Francis wanted to enlarge the scope of those who may vote in the conclave, would he not include priests, deacons, and male religious as well? Then, aside from the wording of the claim, which could simply be inaccurate, there is the question of validity.

Now I do not believe that Pope Francis is planning to allow non-Cardinals to vote. However, I believe it is possible and could be fitting in some circumstances to allow the voting members of a papal conclave to consist of Bishops along with the Cardinals. The vast majority of voting Cardinals (perhaps all, as I could not find a contrary example) are Bishops. So the question arises as to whether Cardinals elect a Pope by virtue of representing the larger body of Bishops, or solely as a separate body?

My understanding is that the successor to Peter, the Pope, and the successors to the other Apostles, the rest of the Bishops, make the Church apostolic and hold the fulness of the authority over doctrine and discipline. The Cardinalate, as useful as it is to the Church, is not part of the essential structure of the Church as founded by Christ. Similarly, the Bishops’ Conferences, are not essential structures in the Church; they may be useful, but they are dispensable. So it seems unlikely that the authority to elect the next Roman Pontiff, after the previous Pope has died or resigned, resides, as a matter of the foundational authority for that power, with the Cardinals only. Rather, the body of Bishops is the source and foundation of the authority to elect the next Roman Pontiff, even though that authority has long been delegated to the Cardinals (as a subset of the Bishops). Similarly, many Ecumenical Councils were attended by a relatively small percentage of the worldwide total of Bishops, and yet those attending represented the entire body of Bishops. So papal conclaves where only Cardinals vote are valid. But other systems are possible.

It would be possible for the Roman Pontiff, or the body of Bishops with the Pope, or in grave circumstances the body of Bishops alone at a time between Popes, to change the rules for electing the next Pope to include many Bishops along with the Cardinals in the election. Such a change is consistent with the apostolic nature of the body of Bishops and the apostolic nature of the role of Roman Pontiff. An example of such a circumstance would be, if the number of Cardinals were reduced and/or many were unable to attend a conclave (due to war or natural disaster), the Bishops might decide to have an election that includes the body of Bishops with the small number of Cardinals available for a conclave.

However, the question at hand is this: Whether the voting members of a papal conclave can include a significant number of non-Bishops or even non-ordained persons? There are a few possible positions.

1. Position one: that such a conclave would be valid but not fitting, since the inclusion of lay voters and non-Bishop voters is contrary to the apostolic nature of the Church. And so it is an unwise and unfitting plan. It would be valid as it would be approved by the Pope.

This is my position. The Pope has the authority to decide the manner of election by the conclave; this could also be decided by the Pope with the body of Bishops (dispersed in the world or gathered in an Ecumenical Council). Even if they decide to include laypersons, the conclave would still be valid. But nothing guarantees that decisions of discipline by the Pope or the Pope and Bishops will never be imprudent or unfitting. Only grave errors in discipline are prevented by God when the Keys of Peter are exercised.

2. Position two: that such a conclave would be invalid, just as it would be invalid if a group of lay leaders in the Church gathered, interregnum, to hold their own (unofficial) conclave.

I disagree with position two. However, even in such a hypothetical, despite the claimed invalidity, any Pope elected would be the true Pope if he were accepted as Pope by the body of Bishops subsequent to the conclave. This is always the case with any claimed Roman Pontiff, even Vigilius, who was not elected at all. The acceptance of a Roman Pontiff by the body of Bishops, or the body of the faithful including the Bishops, “heals in the root” any problems with a papal election, including even the case when an election is absent.

3. Position three: that such a conclave, including many lay voters, would be valid and fitting. The body of the faithful, the body of the Bishops, and the Roman Pontiff himself are the three parts of the indefectibility of the Church. The prevenient grace of God prevents the Pope himself, the body of Bishops, the body of the faithful, each of these three individually and together, from ever going astray in any grave way. So the faithful, in this position, could be entrusted in part with a decision as to the next Roman Pontiff. But I disagree.

My critique of position three is that the body of the faithful, though indefectible as a body, do not possess the right or ability to exercise authority over doctrine or discipline. The desire to give the laity and in particular women more governance power in the Church is fitting and good only to a point. Christ established a Church led by the successors to the Apostles, who were all men. So while I opine that the Church has the authority to ordain women to the diaconate only, choosing the highest office in the Church can and should be done only by the chief Shepherds and Teachers, the Bishops, who are the successors to the Apostles. The successor to Peter should be chosen by the successors to the other Apostles. This has long been accomplished by the body of Bishops delegating this power to a subset of Bishops, specifically the Cardinals.

So now I’ll end this article with a reassertion that the Vatican has denied that there is any such plan to have the laity join Cardinals in electing the next Roman Pontiff.

Ronald L Conte Jr