Conclave capitulation

A conclave capitulation is a special form of treaty drawn up by the College of Cardinals during a papal conclave to constrain the actions of the Pope elected by the conclave. Before balloting began, all cardinals present at the conclave would swear to be bound by its provisions if elected Pope. Capitulations were used by the College of Cardinals to assert its authority and limit papal supremacy, to "make the Church an oligarchy instead of a monarchy." Such capitulations were common in the 14th through 17th centuries.

The College had made informal attempts to influence the actions of Popes before drafting formal capitulations. The first capitulation was drafted in the conclave of 1352, which elected Pope Innocent VI, and most conclaves for the next 300 years produced similar documents.

In 1353, Innocent VI declared these first Capitulations invalid with his Apostolic Constitution, Sollicitudo, citing a Constitution of Pope Gregory X, Contingit, which prohibited papal conclaves from dealing with issues other than the election of a Pope. This papal response would be repeated for most future Capitulations, which were generally disregarded. For this reason, papal historian Frederic Baumgartner calls capitulations "an exercise in futility." Another papal historian, Van Dyke, surmises that by the election of Pope Sixtus IV (1471), "all the Popes for forty years had signed and promptly broken" the "Capitulation of the Conclave." Jugie considers the "regular recourse to capitulation" to be "above all, an admission of weakness." Despite their ineffectiveness, Capitulations still give an insight into the thinking of the Cardinals as they prepared to vote for a pope.

Although not the last Capitulations, that of the conclave of 1513 (which elected Pope Leo X) was a turning point for papal supremacy and attempts to control it through formal treaties; never again did the College attempt to limit its size through capitulations; although individual cardinals remained powerful, the College as a whole never regained its power as the "senate" of the Church.

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