Mariano Rampolla
Mariano Cardinal Rampolla del Tindaro ( born August 17, 1843 in Polizzi Generosa, Sicily, † 16 December 1913 in Rome) was Cardinal Secretary of State during the pontificate of Leo XIII. and one of the leaders of the Catholic Church in the second half of the 19th century.
Curriculum vitae
Mariano Rampolla was destined from childhood for the ecclesiastical career. After the seminar time on the Almo Collegio Capranica 1866 he received the priesthood; in 1870 he received his doctorate for Doctor iuris utriusque. His career then took him into the diplomatic service of the Roman Church in Spain, where he worked from 1875 to 1877 at the local Nunciature. In 1882 he returned, now appointed Titular Archbishop of Heraclea in Europe, as Apostolic Nuncio to Madrid and put forward there, the Curia until 1887.
On March 14, 1887 Pope Leo XIII created him. Cardinal Priest of the titular church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere and called him on June 2, Cardinal Secretary of State. He had decisive influence on foreign policy whose primary problem was the ratio of the Papal States to the Italian government. Even if the Holy See first sought a rapprochement with Italy, Rampolla should not succeed a solution to this question. The poor relations of the Vatican to the Italian State also had a detrimental effect on the relationship of the church to the Central European powers from, especially after the conclusion of the Triple Alliance in 1882. Consequently sought Rampolla in the face of claims incurred distance to Austria, the proximity to France and Spain, where him zugutekam his earlier work in Madrid. This he succeeded indeed to preserve a certain political action of the Church, but he withdrew the (personal ) reluctance of governments in Berlin and Vienna. - The condemnation of Alfred Dreyfus was welcomed by him.
1903 has ended, especially Raphael Merry del Val became the new Cardinal Secretary of State with the election of Pius X, the political influence Cardinal Rampollas.
Cardinal Rampolla was in 1909 appointed secretary of the Holy Office in 1910 and as President of the Roman Thomas Academy. He died on 16 December 1913 in Rome, where he lived last withdrawn.
Cardinal Rampolla was Honour and Devotion Grand Cross - Bailli of the Sovereign Order of Malta, and from 1896 to 1913 the Grand Prior of Rome. In 1894 he was awarded the Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Charles III. excellent
Conclave of 1903
During the Conclave
When Leo XIII. died aged 93 in 1903, was Cardinal Rampolla often as his successor. In fact, his choice would have ensured the continuity of the papal policy. The conclave began on 31 July 1903 belonged to the 62 cardinals, the required majority of two thirds of the votes thus amounted to 42 votes. In the first ballot, Rampolla achieved 24 votes in the second ballot on the evening of August 1, 1903 already 29 votes. Then said the bishop of Krakow, Cardinal Jan Puzyna de Kozielsko in the name of Emperor Franz Joseph I., that this would make his traditional right as Apostolic King of Hungary used to exclude Cardinal Rampolla from among the candidates, so apply the so-called Exclusive, a form of veto. In fact, the Catholic monarchs had stipulated such a veto since the 17th century, however, were always met with fierce resistance from the Catholic Church, which did not recognize an external influence on the election of the pope. Both Cardinal Rampolla as well as leading representatives of the College of Cardinals, especially protested the scoring in his senior supporters French cardinals. In the third round of voting the number of votes for Rampolla rose by just one, a sign that the perceived as inadmissible influence of Austria did nothing. However, from this circumstance went out as well, that a sufficient majority for Rampolla was.
In this situation, the chance for compromise candidate was: The Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Andrea Carlo Ferrari, presented the Patriarch of Venice, Giuseppe Sarto. The latter, who could unite in the first three ballots votes is (5, 10 and 21 ), but explained that he felt unworthy of the high office, and asked the assembled cardinals fervently not to be selected. Had the opposite effect on a French Cardinals Rampolla, he should withdraw his candidacy in order to turn present a compromise candidate can. Cardinal Rampolla, however, refused to abandon his ambitions to Invoking it, the decision of the conclave had to preserve their freedom against the imperial intervention. The Cardinals had no other option but to vote for gradually Sarto, who eventually gave up his resistance and was chosen in the seventh round to Pope Pius X..
Discussion of the veto
Whether the so-called Exclusive the result of the conclave actually changed, it is unclear as Rampolla in spite of the opposition in the third ballot only one vote more than was given in the second round before the appeal. Legally speaking, the Exclusive was irrelevant as it does not occur in churches and suffrage. The Austrian Emperor justified his veto neither before nor after the conclave, at that time and even today the following reasons will be discussed:
- Perhaps the Emperor feared a strengthening of the Vatican, as Cardinal Rampolla was and thus came from the Vatican's power structures.
- Rampolla was regarded as pro-French and thus as a potential opponent of Austria's political interests.
- Rampolla was blamed for a perceived as a very cool reaction of the Vatican after the suicide of the Austrian heir to the throne Rudolf ( 1889).
- Rampolla was placed a certain proximity to Freemasonry and modernism to the load; According to some sources show documents from the estate Rampollas this thesis. The Austrian authorities had probably collected for some time noticed in this regard, especially as there were public statements Rampollas that hinted at a close to modernism.