The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 84 Secret Meeting
The entire team advanced extremely slowly, taking one step at a time.

Walking in front were a few frail old men who needed help, and those following behind were not much more energetic. Eric in the middle was also supporting a trembling old woman and walking with difficulty. The secret meeting to elect the Pope gave people a feeling of torture before it even started.

Today is the first day of the election. According to past practice, all cardinals and archbishops participating in the election will line up, sing the hymn "Pentecost", walk around the Piazza del Popolo, and finally enter the election venue: the Basilica of St. Urban in the Apostolic Palace.

"Most Holy Spirit—

Please come
With light and love
Fill my heart—"

Eric looked up at the sky as he sang.

The only thing to be thankful for is that it didn't snow today and the square had already been cleared. Otherwise, if some old man slipped, the College of Cardinals might lose a member.

After slowly circling around, the team turned towards the Apostolic Palace.

When entering the Basilica of St. Urban, the seats for each cardinal or archbishop had already been reserved, and they took their seats. The irrelevant people who helped them in left the chapel one after another.

Eric's seat was next to the saint, and because he was special, his seat was just a small leather stool.

——He is also an “unrelated person”, but he will become a relevant person sooner or later. In addition, the saint has spoken, so he is qualified to stay here.

"what……"

The saint leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and breathed heavily and muffledly, as if coming from her chest.

There were a dozen or so elderly people like her in the chapel. As they aged, they hadn't walked so many roads on their own.

In the past, cardinals and archbishops over the age of seventy were not only not eligible to be elected, but also had no right to vote. This was because the election of a pope was a long and grueling process, and over the centuries, the number of cardinals who died during the process could not be counted on one hand.

However, few people can give up this power that can influence the entire universal church without mercy. To be more precise, it is the huge interests represented by this power. Therefore, the old cardinals risked their lives to fight for their right to vote.

For them, losing power is far more terrifying than death.

The Saint took a long time to calm down and said to Eric, "You must be prepared for me to die here."

"...Then let's go back to the monastery."

"Nonsense!" the old man glared. "Even if you die here, you can't give up the power to elect the Pope. If you give it up once, others will have a reason to take it away!"

"Then I still cherish life more," Eric said.

"You are so young, why do you care about your life?"

“…I haven’t lived enough.”

As the two were chatting in low voices, the last archbishop also walked into the St. Urban Chapel.

thump—

The cathedral bell rang once.

"The deadline has arrived—"

The Chief Cardinal stood up and announced to the crowd: "Cardinals and archbishops who are not present are deemed to have waived their participation in this secret meeting and do not have the power to nominate the Pope or be nominated as the Pope."

Eric glanced around and saw that the chapel was packed.

More than ten days have passed since the old Pope passed away. The only one who was not present was Simagu, and he gave up this power on his own initiative.

"Close the church!"

All irrelevant personnel had left the scene. Following the order from the chief cardinal, several knights of the church brought the bricks and clay that had been prepared in advance and began to seal the door of the chapel.

This has been the long-standing tradition of the secret meeting.

One is to prevent the secret meeting from being interfered with by the outside world, and the other is to use such tough measures to force the cardinals and archbishops with different ulterior motives to make concessions and compromises and end the vacancy as soon as possible.

If a pope cannot be elected, the wall will not be broken, and the water, food, and even fire crystals for heating will decrease day by day.

All the old cardinals and bishops were determined to fight to the death, but only Eric stretched his head and paid attention to the bricklaying work of the knights.

Not to mention, the brick walls are built quite neatly and the work is done very efficiently. He can be said to be a talent with development in multiple fields.

The brick wall grew higher layer by layer, soon covering the height of the gate, with a small window of 20 centimeters square left in the middle for passing food.

"St. Urban's Chapel is closed—"

The Chief Cardinal stood up and glanced at the people inside. "I declare the secret meeting now open. The first round of voting will begin at noon. Please prepare your nominations."

There was no speaking campaign; all the cardinals and archbishops had to do was write the name of the person they wanted to elect on a piece of paper and drop it in a box when the time came.

The church was very quiet. Some people were writing their names on the ballot paper quickly, some were communicating with others near or far with their eyes, and some were not moving at all, just closing their eyes and praying.

The first round is usually a test.

Except in the early days when the Vatican was composed of selfless individuals, it is rare for a pope to be chosen on the first ballot.

Eric glanced at the Saint's ballot. She had already written a name on it, a name he wasn't familiar with. "Do you have any ideas?" The Saint noticed his gaze.

Eric shook his head, "There is only one sun in my heart, Your Highness..."

"Don't talk nonsense." The old man nudged him with his elbow.

Eric was helpless, "I think everyone has a chance."

The Saint glanced around and whispered, "Didn't Yela tell you who the next Pope will be?"

It turns out that the saint still remembers this.

Eric was silent for a moment, "Yes..."

"Don't tell me." The Saint interrupted him and pushed the pen and paper in front of him. "Write it down and don't let me see it."

Eric wrote down the name of the winner, thought for a moment, and then wrote down the title he would choose after being elected Pope. Then he folded the paper several times and handed it to the saint.

The saint put the note away, and then, as if forgetting about it, she began to pray and wait for the first round of voting to begin.

At noon, the church clock rang.

"It's noon, voting begins."

The cardinals' seats are arranged in a U-shape, with the ballot box placed in the middle, under everyone's sight.

In order of their seats, the cardinals and bishops stood up one by one and went to the ballot box in person, prayed for a while, and then cast their nominations.

Dozens of cardinals vote in turn, and this process is repeated, which is quite a long process.

When it was the Saint's turn, she didn't let Eric do it for her, but went to vote in person, trembling.

After the voting is over, it is time to count the votes.

Three randomly selected cardinals take turns reading the votes.

The first ballot was passed from one person to another in turn.

“McDonald.” “McDonald.” “McDonald.”

Then comes the second one.

"Louis." "Louis." "Louis."

The third one.

"Klimt." "Klimt." "Klimt."

After the vote count was over, it was found that no one in the first round of voting could get more than two-thirds of the votes.

The three cardinals who counted the votes took the invalid ballots to the fireplace in the church, added some black powder prepared nearby, and ignited it with a snap of their fingers.

Bang!
The flame suddenly ignited, and the black powder burned with it, releasing billowing black smoke that was discharged along the fireplace chimney.

This is the only means of communication with the outside world after the chapel is closed.

“It’s black smoke.”

The clergy outside, who were closely watching the chimney, passed this information to each other, which meant that the new Pope had not yet been elected.

There will be only two votes on the first day, one at noon and one at 3 p.m.

After the voting ended at noon, the cardinals dispersed and went to small rooms in the church to rest.

Although the first vote had no results, it vaguely revealed the main destinations of the votes.

"Cardinal Nicol, Archbishop Alberto of Guradia, Archbishop Scott of Donne, Cardinal Tobias... the future Pope will be among these few people."

In the small room, the Saint was analyzing, "Hey, two conservatives, two reformers, this is interesting... It's hard to say which side will win."

The so-called reformists are also relative. They just make slightly bolder interpretations of certain doctrines that are beneficial to themselves.

As for Xinmagu, they thought he was a table-turner.

"The person chosen by His Highness does not seem to be among them." Eric said.

The old man smiled and said, "We have to talk about it. How can we choose if we don't talk about it?"

Tuk-tuk-tuk——

Just then, there was a knock on the door of the small room.

(End of this chapter)