The Conclave: A Sometimes Secret and Occasionally Bloody History of Papal Elections

by Michael J. Walsh

In 1271, with the papal throne vacant for over two years, local officials locked the cardinals of the Catholic Church in a room, forcing them to select a new pope. From this inauspicious beginning arose the practice of the conclave, the highly secretive combination of rituals and politics designed to select a new leader for the world's Catholic population. With Pope John Paul II ailing, the time for a new conclave draws nearer, and Rome is preparing for over 6,000 journalists and innumerable interested onlookers to descend on the Eternal City to witness the election of the next leader of the Catholic Church. In The Conclave, prominent Catholic historian Michael Walsh takes readers through the history of conclaves past, highlighting the vendettas, feuds, and political intrigues that have colored the selection of a new pontiff. An entertaining history of the secret deliberations, colorful stories, and even bloody events that surround the making and unmaking of popes, The Conclave is a great story, a great history, and an important work for anyone interested in the papacy.

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

After watching the movie Conclave, I figured I should read this book about the actual conclaves that occurred in history. Despite the promising title, this book is not nearly as exciting as you would expect. As it turns out, when a process happens almost entirely in secret, with the participants literally locked in until they make a decision, there's not a whole lot interesting to report! As a result, Walsh is forced to basically recite two millennia of names and dates for 200 pages, with occasional spicy nuggets that feel like they could have been more descriptive than simply, "Many died."

As it is, this book is actually hardly about conclaves at all. That's because, as it turns out, the conclave didn't exist for the first half of Catholic history, at which point this book would be tiny, and if it actually limited its focus only to what we knew about the actual conclaves, it would be even tinier. So Walsh is forced to include a lot of non-conclave papal history, which is sometimes interesting but more often confusing because he does not do so systematically. As a result, it's not clear why some papal accomplishments get mentions and others don't.

There's some interesting stuff in here, and the writing is pleasantly conversational, which keeps the reader engaged through what in the end is a fairly small book. But overall, it feels like there must be a better historical treatment of this process out there, one that approaches the subject with more rigor and consistency.

[Sonia Wilson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This short book is basically a list of all papal elections, from St. Peter to John Paul II, with no more than a few sentences devoted to each Pope and the merest hint of historical context. It might be useful as a reference, but there is none of the narrative promised in the subtitle. I did come away with the barest idea of how the election process itself evolved, as the author does make brief mention of each decision and decree that set and modified the parameters of the Conclave. One of the only departures from the dry catalogue of Pontiffs is the insistence that John Paul I died of natural causes. I'm afraid I have to disagree, sir.

[Timothy Grubbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dry but interesting chronicle of Papal elections…

The Conclave: A Sometimes Secret and Occasionally Bloody History of Papal Elections by Michael J. Walsh is exactly what it says.

While factoring in the tenuous origins of the term “Pope” and its association as “Bishop of Rome” (and later its establishment in other regions), the book covers the known popes and the myriad of issues they had to deal with.

It’s not surprise that there was a high turnover during the Roman Empire (with many early popes either killed or exiled). Some of the early popes (and even later popes) also came from unusual origins.

It wasn’t until about half way through the currently history of the Catholic (worldwide) church that proper procedures for the elections were held (as previously it seemed done by votes of local Christian’s rather than religious leaders). The origins of conclaves (as well as the origins of Cardinals) are given along with the rules. Natural these also have those trying to influence the election.

Light attention is given to how papal elections have been influenced by political events, cardinals that didn’t attend (possibly due to travel times or other issues), and various controversies.

A list of the known popes is in the backmatter.

Oh, it doesn’t get a heavy focus, but some attention is given to the “antipope” of various popes…usually the leader of a rival political faction. Often the popes has to work with the antipope regarding political pressure or other things…but only to a point. So there’s still plenty of scheming and political games even after one assumes the office.

[Cotter Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of interesting stories, told at very surface levels and more of a brief overview. Most popes get a sentence to a paragraph. I DNF’d when he went through 4 Popes in one sentence with no further explanation.

[Ari]

If you are already a near expert on Catholic history, Conclave will do you know good because it is so brief that you will learn nothing new. If you aren’t already extremely familiar with both Catholic history and world history from the time of Jesus until now, this book won’t do you any good because you won’t be able to follow along. Walsh makes the merest mention of the most interesting things in Catholic history, even when they are relevant to his topic (for instance the Great Divorce). He goes so quickly that occasionally a single (short) paragraph talks about three or more successive elections. Even the least inclined to follow Papal elections is now familiar with the black and white smoke and what each signifies. This is given only a brief mention at the very tag end of the book. Finally, as readers of my blog or followers of my Goodreads reviews know, I hate when nonfiction has no citation at all. At the very beginning Walsh explains where he got some of his information, especially early information, but there is no citation in the book beyond that. Overall, I feel like this book was a waste of my time and effort and I could have actually learned something by choosing a different book.
This review is taken from my blog at bibliophilebet.blogspot.com

[John Woodwark · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you were already familiar with the history of the papacy, and just needed an aide memoire about the elections, then this well-written book would be ideal. However, with the events between elections compressed to a few sentences, the result is a stop-motion narrative which sometimes makes a lot of sense, sometimes rather less.

The early years -- meaning something like AD 200 to 1800 -- are full of bad stuff: nepotism, simony, banishments, eye-gougings, murder, riots, war; you name it, they did it. Many popes lasted only weeks or months, making the papacy in toto long on quantity but regrettably short on quality. (However, any Anglicans getting uppity about this should recall the mechanics of 'reformation' as introduced by Henry VIII.) Christianity is for sinners, and this book demonstrates that there is no shortage of the, even at the highest level.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eye opening book on the papal process and its history. sometimes shocking and just a little bit repetitive - but I wouldn't have missed it. It has sent me on to other things about this fascinating topic.

[Nicole Keadle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book on the history of the Catholic Conclave.

[David Horney · Rating 2 out of 5]

really boring and dry, it's incredibly short, most popes are given less than two lines. the actual process/history of the conclave is vitually non-existent. read something else.

[Bryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Factual and interesting information delivered in a remarkably boring way.