With Pope Francis recently completing his fourth year as spiritual leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, controversy is no stranger to him nor to Vatican City.
A hero for his signature humility and support of liberal reforms in the Church, the first South American Pope is also a contentious figure for his clashes with traditionalists who fear he is moving the Church away from its roots and centuries-old teachings.
Insider politics and controversy, Vatican-style, are brought to life for readers of all faiths in Robert Harris' "Conclave." As in Harris' previous books "Fatherland" (about Germany reaching an armistice in World War II and now ruling most of Europe) and "An Officer and a Spy" (about France’s notorious Drefus Affair in the late 19th Century), veteran political reporter Harris brings intrigue and a sense of history to what happens when a Pope dies and the 100-plus cardinals of the Church huddle in seclusion to choose his successor,
(Although the author disclaims any similarities between characters and real life people, it is obvious whom the novel—set in the near future—means when it refers to the recently deceased Pope living in an apartment outside the Vatican, refusing to ride in a limousine, and using as a bookmark "a twenty-year-old bus ticket from his home country.")
Others in the "papabile" [candidates for Pope] are based on contemporary figures from the present Church hierarchy or from its recent past. Aldo Cardinal Dinelli, secretary of state (chief administrative officer) of the Vatican, is clearly modeled on the late Giovanni Cardinal Benelli of Florence, right-hand man of Pope Paul VI in the 1970s and outspoken champion of the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
Dinelli’s arch-nemesis in the conclave is the very conservative Goffredo Cardinal Tedesco. One of the 12 children from a working class family (which explains why he always eats holding his hands over his plate so no one will take his food), "Tedesco the Traditionalist" is a protégé of Pope Benedict XVI (deceased by the time these events take place) and champions his Church’s pre-conciliar Mass said in Latin and ad aurientam (priests facing the altar.)
Vatican-watchers will easily spot in Tedesco a present-day cardinal in the Vatican, Raymond L. Burke, frequent antagonist of Pope Francis on several issues and a voice for Catholic traditionalism.
The cardinal who stands an excellent chance of becoming the first black Pope is Joshua Adeyemi of Nigeria. Modeled strongly after Robert Cardinal Sarrah of Guinea, Adeyemi is also a conservative with strong views on marriage who also has a wide following throughout Africa.
Adding to the intrigue in the maneuvers of these papal hopefuls is a surprise attack by terrorists on Vatican City as the cardinals are conducting their balloting in secret. Moreover, there is the surprise appearance of a mysterious cardinal from Iraq who was named ad pectorum (in secret) to the College of Cardinals by the late Pope undoubtedly to protect his identity from terrorists.
To observers who ask how the elections of three of the last four Popes were completely unexpected, old Vatican hands have a saying: "He who comes into the conclave a Pope comes out a cardinal."
Harris, the master of the unexpected twist, lives up to this saying in a novel that is sure to shed new light on one of the most secret of major elections anywhere.
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