Election of the Pope
The ordinary electors of the Pope for a millennium have been the Cardinals. Pope Nicolas II provided that only the Cardinal Bishops of the Sububicarian Sees surrounding Rome would elect the Pope. Therefore under this law, none of the electors were actually Romans, but the Bishops of neighboring dioceses. The balance of the Cardinals agitated for a right to elect and eventually this was granted to them, so that now all of the Cardinals elect the Pope.Provided that the man elected is papabile, Saint Alphonsus states: It doesn’t matter that in past centuries some pontiff has been elected by fraud: it suffices that he has been accepted after as Pope by all the Church, for this fact he has become true pontiff.The election has been completed with few electors in the past and with as many as 56 cardinals. (This does not consider the elections by the clergy and people of Rome in the earlier centuries.) The current law requires two thirds plus one in order to be elected Pope. Canon 219: The Roman Pontiff legitimately elected obtains, from the moment he accepts election, the full power of supreme jurisdiction by divine right.Pope Pius XII on October 5, 1957 in an audience on the lay apostolate confirmed: If a layman were elected pope, he could accept the election only with the condition of being ready to receive ordination and willingness to receive ordination; the capacity to teach and control, as well as the charism of infallibility, would be granted to him as of the moment of its acceptance, even before his ordination.Links to various Papal Election Laws are provided for research below.No one has discussed how the electors would proceed, if there were not sufficient so that they could validly elect one of their own. Under Pope Pius XII's law six electors are required so that one of hte electoral college can obtian two-thirds plus one without voting for himself. However, if the number of electors was so decimated, they would still remain the electors of the Pope. If they cease to exist altogether, then the election devolves to the next body. Although there is dispute in the order, the ultimate devolution is to the Universal Church herself, which proceeded on July 16, 1990 when all others failed in their duty. During a vacancy of the Apostolic See, neither the Church nor the Council can contravene the provisions already laid down to determine the valid mode of election (Cardinal Cajetan, O.P., in De Comparata, cap.xiii, no. 202). However, in case of permission (for example if the Pope has provided nothing against it), or in case of ambiguity (for example, if it is unknown who the true Cardinals are or who the true Pope is, as was the case at the time of the Great Schism), the power ’of applying the Papacy to such and such a person’ devolves on the universal Church, the Church of God. (The Church of the Incarnate Word by Monsignor Charles Journet) Will the Catholic Church Survive the Twentieth Century? Page 452: Arriving at the altar, they recite individually before voting: "Testor Christum Dominum, qui in me indicaturus est, me eligere, quem secundum Deum judico eligi debere." (Translation: “I call to witness the Lord Christ, Who will be my judge, that I am electing the one whom according to God I think ought to be elected",) Michael Fighting
"Michael…who standeth for…thy people," — Dan. 12:1-12
Pope Pius XII on October 5, 1957 in an audience on the lay apostolate confirmed: If a layman were elected pope, he could accept the election only with the condition of being ready to receive ordination and willingness to receive ordination; but the power to teach and govern, as well as the divine gift of infallibility, would be granted to him from the very moment he accepted election, even before his ordination.
