MEDIUM RARE
Said the cashier to me in the bookstore last week, “That’s our last copy.”
She was referring to my purchase of Robert Harris’ 2016 novel, Conclave, a work of fiction but one packed with facts, including a map of St. Peter’s Square that includes the basilica and Sistine Chapel. If sales of the book have gone through the roof, imagine how viewership on on-demand channels shot up by 283 percent one day after Pope Francis died on April 21.
From the blurb on the back cover of the book: “Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, 118 cardinals gather to cast their votes in the world’s most secretive election. When all is said and done, one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on earth. In their cloistered debate they will uncover abuse and corruption at the very heart of the Church. It’s a scandal that could destroy all they hold dear, and they must act decisively to ensure that the next pope is worthy of the post.”
Interviewed on television some days ago, Harris said that to conduct his research for the book, he was granted access to move around the Vatican, including its gardens and environs. In a related feature, the Swiss Guards are shown in their headquarters putting on their uniforms – of medieval design — preparing to go on duty.
Conclave, from the Latin “con clavis,” with a key, means a gathering of cardinals, about 150 of them, under the age of 80 and from all over the world, sequestering them under lock and key in the apartments around the chapel, to vote in secret for a new pope after the last one has died or resigned. A two-thirds vote is required before anyone can be pronounced winner, the next pope. If the vote takes more than one day or more days, so be it.
In the book, the cardinal from the Philippines goes by the name Vincent Benitez. He has been assigned to Africa and is described as a gentle, nice guy. But, might a couple of skeletons be rattling in his closet? Read on. Secrets are delicious to keep and, as they say, a secret is safe as long as there’s only one keeper, for with two it becomes a rumor.