Conclave

by Robert Harris

(“Between

Between you, me and the bedpost, I should never have given the job to an American. They are so innocent: they have no idea how bribery works. Did you know that the going rate for a beatification is said to be three quarters of a million euros? The only miracle is that anyone pays it…”).

“Then tell your supporters not to vote for you. Pass the chalice to someone else.” A tortured look passed across Bellini’s face. “And let it go to him?” He nodded down the hill to where a squat, bulky, almost square figure was marching up the slope towards them, his shape rendered all the more comical by the tall, plumed Swiss Guards flanking him.

We do not need a Church that will move with the world but a Church that will move the world.

Conclave. From the Latin, con clavis: “with a key.” Since the thirteenth century, this was how the Church had ensured its cardinals would come to a decision. They would not be released from the chapel, except for meals and to sleep, until they had chosen a Pope.