An insider's view of the last Papal conclave

A diary annonymously leaked to the press has given a great deal of details about the last conclave. Can you believed disgraced Cardinal Law got a vote on the first ballot?

Excerpts of the diary, published Friday, show Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger led in each of the four ballots cast in the Sistine Chapel during the mystery-shrouded April 18-19 conclave. But, in a surprise, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a Jesuit, was in second place the whole time.

Most accounts of the conclave have said retired Milan archbishop Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini was the main challenger to Ratzinger, who became Benedict XVI after his election, and that a Third World pope was never realistically in the running.

While Bergoglio never threatened Ratzinger's lead -- and made clear he didn't want the job, according to the diary published in the respected Italian foreign affairs magazine Limes -- his runner-up status could signal the next conclave might elect a pope from Latin America, home to half the world's 1 billion Roman Catholics.

The diary of the anonymous cardinal is also significant because it shows that Ratzinger didn't garner a huge margin -- he had 84 of the 115 votes in the final ballot, seven more than the required two-thirds majority.

That's just part of the CNN article. I do recommend reading the whole thing. One conclusion I make from this diary is high likelihood for the next Pope to come from Latin America.

Hat tip- Captain Ed who thinks it is sad commentary today that Vatican officials can't even be trusted withs secrets. Betsy also notes that this leak was probably done for political reasons and who ever leaked it broke a vow and you wonder how many other vows this Cardinal has broken.

Open Trackback- Basil's blog