Election
election of Pope Pius VI
The 1774–75 papal conclave (5 October – 15 February) was convoked after the death of Pope Clement XIV on 22 September 1774 and ended with the election of Cardinal Giovanni Braschi, who took the name Pius VI.
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Text from the Wikipedia article “1774–75 papal conclave”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The 1774–75 papal conclave (5 October – 15 February) was convoked after the death of Pope Clement XIV on 22 September 1774 and ended with the election of Cardinal Giovanni Braschi, who took the name Pius VI.
Pope Clement XIV died suddenly on September 22, 1774, at the age of 68. His pontificate had been dominated by the problem of the Society of Jesus. The various courts under the House of Bourbon and the Kingdom of Portugal (under the House of Braganza) urged the general suppression of the order. The pope tried to defend Jesuits and to temporize, but finally had to capitulate, and in 1773 he issued the Brief Dominus ac Redemptor which suppressed the Society of Jesus. Father Lorenzo Ricci, general of the order, had been imprisoned in the Castel Sant'Angelo. However, the Jesuits still had many adherents in the Roman Curia and in the Sacred College of Cardinals. The attitude toward Jesuits remained the main criterion of the appreciation of the candidates to the papal succession in the subsequent conclave.
The death of a pope frequently presented an opportunity for the citizens of Rome to vent their anti-clerical feelings, often in the context of satires, sometimes salacious, directed at either the late pope or the cardinals. In 1774, the Governor of Rome had occasion to ban a drama entitled the Conclave for offending the "dignity, decorum, and venerable representation of the Sacred College, as well as, other persons as subjects".
The College of Cardinals was generally divided into two blocs: curial, pro-Jesuit (zelanti) and political, anti-Jesuit. The first one was formed by the Italian curial cardinals who opposed the secular influences on the Church. The second one included crown-cardinals of the Catholic courts. These two blocs were in no way homogenous. Zelanti were divided into moderate and radical factions. The anti-Jesuit bloc was divided into several national groups with different interests.
The leader of celanti was Cardinal Marcantonio Colonna. The other representatives of this faction were Giovanni Battista Rezzonico, his relative Carlo Rezzonico, who occupied the important office of the camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, Gian Francesco Albani, dean of the College of Cardinals, and Alessandro Albani, archdeacon of the College. The Rezzonichi represented the radical wing of this faction, while the Albanis and Colonna represented the moderate wing. Among the anti-Jesuit cardinals the main leader was Cardinal de Bernis, ambassador of Louis XVI of France. The interests of Charles III of Spain were represented by Cardona, interests of Ferdinand III of Sicily/Ferdinand IV of Naples by Orsini, while those of Maria Theresa of Austria and her son Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor were under the care of Migazzi and Corsini. Also very influential was Cardinal Giraud, former nuncio in France. Several cardinals were not counted among the members of these factions.
There was no main favourite of the conclave. About thirty cardinals were considered papabile.
The conclave began on October 5, 1774. Initially there were only 28 participants. By the middle of December their number reached only 39, but by the end of the conclave five more cardinals arrived.
Cardinal Marcantonio Colonna, taking advantage of the small number of electors, mostly curial cardinals belonging to his zelanti faction, tried to release Father Ricci from prison. This initiative obtained support of camerlengo Carlo Rezzonico and of Henry Benedict Stuart, but the anti-Jesuit faction was strong enough to frustrate it.
Every day at least one ballot took place, but no candidates with serious chances for the election were proposed at the beginning, because the number of electors was relatively small and they were obliged to await the arrival of the rest, particularly of those representatives of the courts who did not reside in Rome. The zelanti voted mainly for their leader Colonna, who received the greatest number of votes in these initial ballots, but certainly had no chances to secure the required majority of two thirds. Some other candidates were also put forward by the Zelanti, but they were all rejected by crown-cardinals as too pro-Jesuit. Against the candidature of Giovanni Carlo Boschi the Bourbon courts even pronounced the official papal veto.
Although the court factions cooperated by blocking the zelanti candidates, they were unable to agree upon one of their own. Spain supported Pallavicino, while Austria favoured Visconti, a former nuncio at Vienna. Towards the end of 1774, the name of young Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Braschi was raised for the first time. Braschi belonged to the moderate wing of the Zelanti faction. He was advanced by Cardinal Giraud, and obtained a significant number of votes. The crown-cardinals rejected Braschi as pro-Jesuit, although Cardinal de Bernis in his report for the French court found him moderate man and did not exclude the support for him in the future, if no better candidate would be found. No consensus had been achieved before the end of 1774.
In January 1775, Cardinals Migazzi, Borromeo, Caracciolo, Pallavicino, and Visconti were proposed by the political factions, but without any significant success, because the zelanti rejected all candidates recommended by the monarchs. Cardinal Zelada tried to mediate between factions, proposing to reduce the number of candidates to six, of whom each of the two blocs had to advance three, and to elect the one who would be the most acceptable for all. But this initiative had also failed.
Gradually, French Cardinals de Bernis and Luynes came to the conclusion that it was impossible to find any better candidate with chances for election than the initially rejected Cardinal Braschi. This was the turning point of the conclave. Braschi's candidacy gained important and influential allies. But Spain and Portugal still opposed him as too favorable toward the Jesuits. Braschi also had some opponents in the radical wing of his own party. To secure the required majority, Cardinal de Bernis aligned himself with Cardinal Zelada, who acted as mediator: de Bernis had to convince the political factions, while Zelada had to overcome the opposition among the radical Zelanti. Also Cardinal Albani was engaged in the promotion of Braschi.
Cardinal Zelada secured the support of aelanti without serious problems. Spain's candidate, Pallavicino, openly declared that he would not accept the tiara and supported Braschi. The other political factions agreed when Braschi promised the ratification of the suppression of the Jesuits, his friendship to the House of Bourbon and to the House of Habsburg, and agreed to be guided by the allies in the distribution of State offices.
On 15 February 1775, after 134 days of deliberation, Cardinal Giovanni Braschi was elected to the papacy on the 265th ballot, receiving all votes except his own, which, according to custom, he gave to Gian Francesco Albani, the dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals. He took the name of Pius VI, in honour of St. Pius V.
On 22 February 1775, the pope-elect was consecrated bishop of Rome by Dean Gian Francesco Albani, Bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina, assisted by Vice-Dean Henry Benedict Stuart, Bishop of Frascati, and Camerlengo Carlo Rezzonico, Bishop of Sabina. On the same day, he was also solemnly crowned by Cardinal Alessandro Albani, protodeacon of S. Maria in Via Lata.
At the death of Clement XIV, there were fifty-five cardinals in the Sacred College, but two of them died during sede vacante, while another nine remained entirely absent. Forty-four cardinals participated in the conclave:
Text from the Wikipedia article “1774–1775 conclave”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.