A conclave capitulation was a compact or unilateral contract drawn up by the

College of Cardinals The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are app ...

during a papal conclave to constrain the actions of the pope elected by the conclave. The legal term '' capitulation'' more frequently refers to the commitment of a sovereign state to relinquish jurisdiction within its borders over the subjects of a foreign state. Before balloting began, all cardinals present at the conclave would swear to be bound by its provisions if elected pope. Capitulations were used by the

to assert its collective authority and limit

papal supremacy Papal supremacy is the doctrine of the Catholic Church that the Pope, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, the visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful, and as pastor of the ...

, to "make the Church an oligarchy instead of a monarchy." Similar

electoral capitulation An electoral capitulation (german: Wahlkapitulation) was initially a written agreement in parts of Europe, principally the Holy Roman Empire, whereby from the 13th century onward, a candidate to a prince-bishopric had to agree to a set of precondi ...

s were used on occasion from the 14th to the 17th centuries in Northern and Central Europe to constrain an elected king, emperor, prince, or bishop.

History

The College had made informal attempts to influence the actions of popes before drafting formal capitulations. The first capitulation was drafted in the conclave of 1352, which elected

Pope Innocent VI Pope Innocent VI ( la, Innocentius VI; 1282 or 1295 – 12 September 1362), born Étienne Aubert, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 18 December 1352 to his death in September 1362. He was the fifth Avignon pope ...

,Jugie, Pierre. Levillain, ed. 2002. "Cardinal." pp. 241-242. and most conclaves for the next 300 years produced similar documents.Baumgartner, 2003, pp. 52-54. In 1353, Innocent VI declared these first Capitulations invalid with his Apostolic Constitution, '' Sollicitudo'', citing a Constitution of

Pope Gregory X Pope Gregory X ( la, Gregorius X; – 10 January 1276), born Teobaldo Visconti, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 September 1271 to his death and was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order. He was ...

, '' Contingit'', which prohibited papal conclaves from dealing with issues other than the election of a Pope. This papal response would be repeated for most future Capitulations, which were generally disregarded. For this reason, papal historian Frederic Baumgartner calls capitulations "an exercise in futility." Another papal historian, Van Dyke, surmises that by the election of Pope Sixtus IV (1471), "all the Popes for forty years had signed and promptly broken" the "Capitulation of the Conclave." Jugie considers the "regular recourse to capitulation" to be "above all, an admission of weakness." Despite their ineffectiveness, Capitulations still give an insight into the thinking of the Cardinals as they prepared to vote for a pope. Although not the last Capitulations, that of the conclave of 1513 (which elected Pope Leo X) was a turning point for

and attempts to control it through formal treaties; never again did the College attempt to limit its size through capitulations; although individual cardinals remained powerful, the College as a whole never regained its power as the "senate" of the Church. In 1676, Pope-elect

Innocent XI Pope Innocent XI ( la, Innocentius XI; it, Innocenzo XI; 16 May 1611 – 12 August 1689), born Benedetto Odescalchi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 21 September 1676 to his death on August 12, 1689. Poli ...

made the College swear to the capitulation that had been drafted by the previous conclave before accepting his election. Though the practice was defunct,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

's 1996 Constitution '' Universi Dominici Gregis'' banned conclave capitulations as well as the

papal veto ''Jus exclusivae'' (Latin for "right of exclusion"; sometimes called the papal veto) was the right claimed by several Catholic monarchs of Europe to veto a candidate for the papacy. Although never formally recognized by the Catholic Church, the ...

, which had already been eliminated by Pius X. He wrote: "I likewise forbid the Cardinals before the election to enter into any stipulations, committing themselves of common accord to a certain course of action should one of them be elevated to the Pontificate. These promises too, should any in fact be made, even under oath, I also declare null and void." ''Universi Dominici Gregis''

List of conclave capitulations

References

;Sources *Baumgartner, Frederic J. 2003. ''Behind Locked Doors: A History of the Papal Elections''. Palgrave Macmillan. . *Levillain, Philippe, ed. 2002. ''The Papacy: An Encyclopedia''. Routledge. . *Pastor, Ludwig. 1908. ''The History of the Popes''. K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd. *Setton, Kenneth Meyer. 1984. ''The Papacy and the Levant, 1204-1571: The 13th & 14th Centuries''. DIANE. . *Van Dyke, Paul. 1897. ''The Age of the Renascence''. The Christian Literature Co. *Walsh, Michael. 2003. ''The Conclave: A Sometimes Secret and Occasionally Bloody History of Papal Elections''. Rowman & Littlefield. {{ISBN, 1-58051-135-X. Election of the Pope History of the papacy Law-related lists Papal primacy