Pope Benedict elected after Argentine waiver-report

[emad]

By Phil Stewart

ROME, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope in April after his closest rival in the conclave, a cardinal from Argentina, indicated he did not want the responsibility, according to a secret account published by a magazine on Friday.

Respected Italian magazine Limes said details of the closed-door voting inside the frescoed Sistine Chapel come from the diary of an unnamed cardinal.

The 115 cardinals who entered the conclave on April 18 took a vow of "absolute and perpetual secrecy" not to reveal details of the election and the Vatican did not comment on the report.

If true, the diary would show that Pope Benedict was elected with fewer votes than those attributed to his predecessor, John Paul II, and that Latin America was closer than previously thought to having its first pope.
http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nL23581012

[tjwmason]

1. Theorising about the events within the conclave is as old as the conclave

itself.

I wouldn't set much store by any of them. Besides the votes as stated here would never have been sufficient to elect Cardinal Bergoglio, they may have led to a compromise candidate emerging - though a rule change under John-Paul II did allow election by a simple majority after protracted voting.