Habebimus Papam

[Touzen]

"How long are we going to let ourselves be the mockery of the heathen world?"

Juun waited for the words to settle.

"Even as we speak, Michael Schwarzmann, who is well on his way to becoming a martyr, is rotting in some Kashtanese torture camp...for what? For trying to spread the true faith to my people. What is the government of Eiffelland doing? Nothing. Nil. Nada. A supposedly Christian land is being pulled by the hook in its nose through the arena of international diplomacy. Shame, shame, shame."

"We are hearing this talk about having to accommodate, retreat and cower before the agnostic indifference of postmodernism. We are to support the iconoclasm in Beira, all in the god-fearing, but I believe ultimate futile, hope that by being meagre enough, the world will come around. The world will repent. But before repentance must come acceptance of sin, and I fear it is this that is lacking in this day and age, first and foremost. It is our mission, and our purpose here, to bring God's judgment back into the equation."

 

[Rheinbund]

This time Strelecki took the floor.

“I did talk to the Government of Eiffelland about the case of Michael Schwarzmann. Actually, I begged Chancellor Von Seydewitz to do more than he currently does. I don’t know why they are so passive in this matter. Chancellor Von Seydewitz did not want to tell why.
I would also like to react on Cardinal Stewart’s remark on the Civic Process in Beira. The Social Republic of Beira may have been devoted to the Tiburan Catholic Church to a high extent, but it was also a dictatorship. I hope that we were not too generous with giving absolution for torturing and murdering.”

 

[Gunnland]

Stewart exhaled sharply and made a derisive half snort, half laugh. But he did not respond to the Eiffellandian.

 

[Holy Frankish Empire]

It had been a long day for all involved. Donnet had seen all manner of happenings like never before at a conclave. Apparently some Cardinals thought it acceptable to throw back wine like it was some gutter Christmas party. It had been a strange journey thus far. Solemnly though, the Cardinals followed tradition and voted without much incident. The entire process had been repeated, this time without the Franciscan brothers handing out refreshments. The scrutineers had counted twice and it was only a few moments before Donnet approached the table. Donnet did not know what to expect. He knew Lagier had probably voted Taft as Lagier was ambitious little man- full of delusions of lining his own pockets. Donnet knew that both Taft and Meyer equally offered much. Yet, Donnet had no clue how de Laitre had voted. The poor fool could have voted for anyone. Donnet would't have been surprised if he had been the one who voted Stewart in the previous round. Donnet spoke with the scrutineers quietly. He betrayed no emotion as he turned around and crossed to the center of the room. "Brother Cardinals. It seems that we are still at an impasse. Cardinal Taft received 8 votes. Meyer 4. And myself a singular vote. Now, I ask that you remain with Christ in your heart while in this chamber. If one chooses to lose their faculties during speech or discussion, they will be muted" he said, shaking his head. "No Cardinal has received the 2/3 majority required. Until there is a majority of 9 votes, we cannot name a new Pope. We also, I should add, have one abstaining vote. I ask that this Cardinal make a decision in the next vote. I cannot force this member to vote. It is their prerogative. We will now have a period of prayer lasting a few minutes and will move onto a short break for answering nature. We will resume in the next 10 minutes" Donnet said, weary of what might come next.

 

[Rheinbund]

So, 8 votes for Taft, 4 for Meyer and 1 for Donnet, Strelecki thought. He looked around the table. He could be quite certain that Stewart and Juun had voted for Taft. The same for Ipato, Castelar and Lagier. Donnet would probably have voted for Meyer. But what would Lishke, Passos, Eleutherius and De Laitre have done? And who were the two abstaining cardinals? Espinoza, who was sleeping off his debauch? Or was it somebody else? And who was the second abstainer? Why were they abstaining?

At the beginning of the break, Strelecki, Von Aschenbach and Meyer discussed the situation with each other. Or better said, they whispered about it. When Strelecki brought up the issue of the two abstaining cardinals, Meyer whispered: “Well, maybe one of them is Taft. Maybe he does so because he doesn’t want to vote for himself.”
“But nowadays it is allowed to vote for yourself,” Von Aschenbach whispered.
“Really?”, Strelecki and Meyer whispered at the same time, highly surprised.

This was the difficult part of this conclave. How to win the supporters of Taft without loosing the support of the more moderate Cardinals? In any case, contrary to what Taft said to Meyer, the race was still open.




OOC: This post was modified on 16 December 2017 15:00 CET. The original post is quoted below.

After the 10 minutes break, during which Strelecki, Von Aschenbach and Meyer discussed with each other, Meyer took the floor again.

“Brother Cardinals, we are indeed at an impasse. I think we all agree on how to proceed with the Church. At least we agree on the issues at hand. We all agree about the fact that the Church is in a dificult position, especially in Kashtan, the country where the Ark of the Covenant is hidden. I myself am an advocate of the carrot‑and‑stick method. To defend the followers of the Church in countries where we are oppressed, we need the stick. To show how lucky and happy we can be in the hands of God, we need the carrot. Cardinal Juun, I have heard you and I have understood you. Cardinal Taft, Cardinal Stewart, I have heard and understood you as well. Let’s all cooperate in defending the Church in countries where it is oppressed.
In parallel, we should also ask ourselves where we stand. We are not only facing oppression in Kashtan, Engellex, the SWR and Ostrovakia, we are not only facing assaults in Beira, we are also facing believers who are asking themselves to what extent they need God. They see themselves in a Heaven on Earth and don’t understand any more that they also have to look at Heaven in Heaven. That is why I still think we need to hold a council in the coming years. And we should not underestimate ourselves; we are very well capable to both fight for the oppressed Believers in Kashtan and discuss about where the Church has to go in countries like Eiffelland and Geotri.”

Meyer took a sip of the water in his water bottle. Then he continued.

“But first of all, Brother Strelecki may have phrased it a bit boldly, but what he meant to say, is that we should practice what we preach. The rules are not only there for the Believers, they are also there for us. Also we have to live according to the Teachings of God. Because we have to show the good example to the World.”

Then Meyer seated himself again.

Von Aschenbach had remained silent during the plenary sessions. Now he decided to break the silence. He rose, and said: “By the way, now that we are talking about the rules, I think we all know the rule that a Cardinal is not allowed to vote for himself. But of course we all stick to that rule, don't we?”

 

[Gunnland]

Cardinal Stewart indulged morbid visions of suicide: some grand gesture, making the sign of the cross with a ricin dart, collapsing onto the floor of the chapel at Herzogenrode. Not a single vote! When the break was called, he walked out in a daze. I should have plotted with the Burgundians. The surge for Taft still surprised him. He had considered the Ordo Solaris something minor. A club of misfits and outcast fanatics in peripheral countries. How are the Gallians letting this happen?

For years he had steeled his resolve, his imagination like a crucible, seeing his red gloves push in the silver hinge underneath the pyx, the ricin dart dispatching the communicant of the most blessed sacrament to eternal life, or eternal damnation, much more quickly than they expected. I could have done it. Over the years he had imagined murdering those he thought were the papabile: Donnet, Passos, Strelecki. The looks on their faces, a twitch of slight pain, then confusion as they fell to the floor.

But now there was no way forward. Murder Taft and strengthen his support. Murder Meyer and hand the Chair of St. Peter to Taft. He allowed himself once more to think of shooting the ricin dart into his heart, then pushed the thought from his mind. Chaos. Perhaps he could emerge as a leader in some kind of emergency. During the break, he spotted Meyer, and ambushed him in a rush of whispers, thrusting the weaponized sacrilege into his hands.

"I believe this... abomination is a pyx made into a murder weapon. I had a hunch Taft's secret society planned, or plans, murder. And here is how. Juun set it in the cloakroom, arousing my suspicions. I trust you will do with it what needs to be done, Eminence."

 

[Rheinbund]

"Ach du meine Güte," Meyer whispered, overwhelmed and therefore switching over to German. "Das ist erschütternd."

When he saw Stewart's wondering face, he realised that he had switched over to German, which Stewart probably did not understand. He switched to English and whispered: "What you are telling me, Cardinal Stewart, is shocking."

Meyer started to think. In an enormously rapid pace. Then he whispered: "Thank you for telling me this. And thank you for giving me this. I will certainly do what needs to be done."

Meyer's train of thought was the following. He could go to Donnet with this thing, but then it would be Stewart's words against Taft's and Juun's words. Furthermore, if it was indeed Juun who set it in the cloakroom, did he do so as part of a plot to help Taft? Was this the only murder weapon, or were there more? On the other hand, to what extent could Stewart be trusted? Did he really find it after Juun set it in the cloakroom, or did he himself smuggle it in, for whichever reason? In any case, it was good that he, Strelecki and Von Aschenbach took care of their own water bottles. But there was also another problem. Now he had a murder weapon in his hands. What if someone would see it in his hands? That would made him a suspect of planning a murder. So the wisest thing to do, was getting rid of this thing as soon as possible.

Meyer went to the bathroom, and flushed the thing he had got from Stewart through the toilet.

 

[Touzen]

"Well, will we hear something new? Or are we doomed to be deadlocked for good? I believe that the faithful waiting for the white smoke are not as patient as the conclave seems to be. We really ought to consider what message we are sending here, and which one we should be sending - namely one of unity."

"I motion that Brothers Meyer and Taft sit down together to find an...arrangement that will see the points of those favoring Meyer being taken into account. And then we shall unanimously proclaim the Holy Father - what a tremendous signal that would be."

Juun sat down again. It was time to end this charade.

 

[Rheinbund]

Von Aschenbach had kept himself out of the plenar discussions. Now he decided to take the floor.

“Brothers Cardinals, the problem that we are facing here is deeper than the problem of whom to elect Pope,” he said. “The underlying problem is differing opinions on the course the Church has to follow after the conclave. I think it would be wiser to reach a compromise on the course to follow after the conclave first, and then find the right candidate to lead us on that course.”

He paused for a moment. Then he continued.

“Let’s find out what we can agree on first. I think we all agree on the fact that we have to formulate an answer on the situation regarding Christians in Kashtan, Engellex, Ostrovakia and to a lesser extent Beira. One of the ideas on the table to handle that is forming a congregation which can defend Christians when needed. This idea has to be discussed out. Furthermore, we have to formulate an answer on the terrorist attacks in the name of Christianity. We all agree that these terrorist attacks have to stop; however, we have not discussed this in-depth yet.”

“Let’s also find out what we disagree on, because that is the reason why the conclave is in an impasse. Christianity is not only facing oppression in several countries, but also people leaving the flock in countries like Eiffelland, Geotri, Telora and to a lesser extent Bourgogne. We have to find an answer on that as well, because if the Tiburan Catholic Church looses its base in Eiffelland, Geotri and Bourgogne, it will be marginalised on the international stage.”

OOC: I keep the colour schemes: Strelecki is blue, Meyer is reddish, and Von Aschenbach is green.

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

He was close. Just one vote. He could almost taste victory now.

Confident in his imminent victory, Taft took the podium. He just needed to convince one of them. Just one.

"My brothers, I thank you for the faith you have put in me. While I understand your patience," he nodded towards Cardinal Juun, "I do not believe we are at an impasse. We have come close to an agreement. Throughout the history of our holy mother church, there had been papal elections harder fought, less clear. Meanwhile, we, to the contrary, have managed to send a clear endorsement. I am entirely grateful for being chosen by you, by the holy spirit that guides you, as preferred candidate.

We are just one vote short of electing our next pope. That means one of you, brothers, can end this conclave and allow us all to move forward into the future. Having said that, if I am to become our next pope, I wish to make something clear that, perhaps, had not been made clear enough to some of you."

Taft looked at the Eiffelländer cardinals, smiling a smile as friendly as he could muster. Meyer looked defiant, probably still caught in delusions of turning the election around. Strelecki meanwhile looked, as he had expected Taft to suddenly break into song at any moment, singing about his evil plans in the manner of a cartoon villain.

"I do not wish to be the candidate of controversy. I do not wish to be a pope of schism and disagreement within our church. If we are to overcome the damages that have been inflicted to our holy mother church over the course of the last century, we will need to be united. We will need to be strong. Most here seem to believe me to be the man who is most qualified to lead us through this time of challenge. Yet, a small but significant faction around my esteemed brother Meyer here seem to disagree. Hence I wish to ask you a question, brother, and I ask that you answer it truthfully:

What compromises, what promises do I have to make so you return to the flock. What oaths do I have to swear, here and now, that you join the majority in their choice and grant me the honor of your endorsement?"

 

[Gunnland]

Stewart applauded. He looked at Meyer. Now is the time for action. He had hoped Meyer or one of the other Eiffellandians would rise to denounce Taft; instead, surprisingly, Von Aschenbach had delivered milquetoast. Perhaps they're resolved to murder him while the scrutineers tally votes. Good. But just in case not, Stewart rose, still applauding Taft.

"What better present for the faithful, brethren, than a pope for Christmas? Clearly Cardinal Taft is the heavy favorite. It is time for all of us to unite behind him. If anyone thinks he is disqualified, it is time to say why."

 

[Pelasgia]

"I believe," the Patriarch said, "that it was never a question of qualifications. Indeed, both of the candidates are more than qualified for the position of the supreme Pontiff of our Holy Mother Church. Rather, it is a question of beliefs, of which path our Church ought to take in the future. Though the reasons for this stance of the Patriarchate have already been explained have already been iterated, it would seem that they ought to be reiterated. Cardinal Taft might certainly be zealous, faithful, and experienced, but I cannot help but fear that the path he espouses would lead to the doom of our religious minorities. To demand absolute loyalty to the Pontiff openly, to propose maintaining the outdated institution of Crusades, to fail to effectively combat extremism; how would any of this help those of our faithful who are the weakest from being prosecuted? Would all these ideas not just provide more justifications for those who hunt down our faithful flock? Without any assurance of a policy to protect the members of our Church in countries where we do not hold power or a majority of the faithful's allegiance by peaceful means, it would be impossible for me to endorse Cardinal Taft. Indeed, I very much fear that any heavy handed attempt at scaring the enemies of the Church would merely serve to break the prestige, respect and soft power of our Church for good."

 

[Rheinbund]

It was Strelecki who took the floor again. Not Meyer.

“I think it would be better if one of the people favouring our brother Cardinal Meyer speaks up than if our brother Cardinal Meyer himself speaks up. First of all, you may look at us as sheep straying away from the flock. If we actually do, then not because our faith is fainting, but because we think that brother Cardinal Taft and the people favouring him want to follow a course that we consider wrong. We have all confidence in brother Cardinal Taft’s good intentions, but the course he stands for is wrong. At least parts of it. He has to realise, we all have to realise, that the Church is facing different problems in Geotri, Eiffelland and Bourgogne than in Kashtan, the SWR, Engellex and Ostrovakia. In Geotri, Eiffelland and Bourgogne, the faithful are asking what to do if strictly upholding the Church’s Teachings will lead to evil while committing a sin will prevent that evil. The churches in Eiffelland are still full, but they would have become emptier and emptier if brother Cardinal von Aschenbach and I would not have taken the room left by the disease of His Holiness Pope Pius XII and taken up the role of good shepherds instead of sticked to the Law of the Church. We provided answers and spiritual support instead of condemnations, because the flock needed answers and spiritual support instead of condemnations. We don’t know for sure if that was what God wanted from us, but we do know that it helped the faithful in Eiffelland, and we do know that what we did was according to what Jesus Christ taught us about love of our fellow men. The answers we gave, resulted from the spirit of Jesus Christ. We did find them in the Bible, but not in the Laws of the Church.”

Strelecki paused for a moment. Then he continued.

“That is why a council is needed.”

He paused again for a moment.

When Strelecki started talking, he started calmly. Up to now, his voice had remained calm. But when he continued, the tone in his voice became sharper and sharper.

“Indeed, we have to show strength in countries where Christianity is oppressed, but we also have to find answers to questions for which no answers exist in the Bible and the Laws of the Church. We have been failing to find those answers for centuries now, and that is exactly the reason why Engellex, the SWR and Kadikistan turned themselves away from us! That, brother Cardinal Taft, is what you have to understand as well!!! That, brother Cardinals, is what the new Pope will have to understand as well!!!”

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Ah, yes, the pride of Eiffelland, Taft thought to himself. Churches full of sinners.

He bit his own tongue. This was no time to antagonize Meyers supporters. Cardinal Taft knew he was negotiating from a position of strength, that he had proven his position to enjoy enough support to make an Eiffelländer puppet on the Holy Chair an impossibility. Their last resort was to prevent the election of a new pope altogether and they would not be able to do so indefinitely. All he needed was to win one of them over. Two, if the Cardinal, who had thusfar abstained, decided to cast his vote after all.

Taft could be magnanimous in such a situation. He acknowledged that there was dissent within the church, indeed, that there was a right to disagree on church politics. Needless to say, however, the likes of Strelecki took it too far, extended their doubt to the holy scripture itself and eroded the foundations of the very religion they professed to represent. Strelecki was no man of god, that much was certain. But whether out of naivety or out of malice, Taft could not tell. Still, Strelecki wasn't the only one in the Eiffelländer camp and Taft was certain that he was not even representative for Meyers voters, merely the puppetmaster pulling the strings behind the curtains. There was no way to expose Strelecki for the freemason he was, so Taft had to make sure to make himself presentable to those whom that man had fooled. All he needed was to convince just one of them that he was making amends acceptable enough to vote for him rather than stay locked up for eternity.

"Brother Strelecki, I thank you for your valuable words. Indeed, I realize that the challenges we face are different ones. What you, however, need to understand is that the overwhelming support I am thankful to receive from the conclave was a vote of confidence against the way parishes such as your own have dominated church policy. You may have watched many benefits for your own position in Eiffelland coming from the past course, may indeed boast that men and women in your country still flock to the church - but this all came at the expenses of us faithful in the remainder of Europe. It came at the expense of communists appointing their own priests in Implaria and Gallia, tainting the christian faith with their lies and deceptions. It came at the expense of martyrdom for those who profess their faith in Kashtan or Engellex.

The conclave has voted against an Eiffelländer on the holy chair. It has voted against a continuation of the Germano-centric policies of the recent past. It has voted against appeasing those who sit in Eiffelländer churches on a calm sunday at the cost of those whose faith could not be shaken by Kadikistani swords or Gouw Markener lies.

That, however, does not mean we wish to overturn your achievements. It is not my intention to attack the church in Eiffelland or to cast aside the achievements of our blessed Pope Pius, whom god had put into his position for many good reasons. I am not a candidate of strife within the church, I am a candidate of unifying it. I wish to take in the voices of those in the church that had not been heard in the past, not to drown out yours, but to grant them justice!

And it is from such a position I speak to you of compromise and ask you, brother Strelecki, brother Meyer, brother Eleutherius and whoever else had hesitated to grant me his support up to now: please tell me, what is it you wish me to compromise on, where am I erring in your eyes and what promises do I have to make to begin the unification of our church here and now on this day. Let us come together and allow me to be a man that can speak for the church in its grandeur and diversity, rather than having us fall apart into squabbling, petty factions."

 

[Rheinbund]

“Dominated Church politics?” Strelecki asked sharply. “What exactly do you mean, Cardinal Taft? Church politics in Eiffelland, or Church politics Europe-wide? Cardinal Von Aschenbach and I are the two Archbishops in Eiffelland; we are entitled to lead Church politics in Eiffelland. Indeed, depending on the room offered by the Pope, but nevertheless. We didn’t dominate Church politics Europe-wide; that is the Pope’s perogative, so we left us out of that, even given the fact that there have not been any Europe-wide Church politics for the last ten years due to the Pope’s disease. So I don’t know which kind of domination of Church politics by Eiffellandians you are talking about.”

He took his water bottle, opened it, took a sip of water, closed his water bottle, and continued.

“Furthermore, I don’t know to what extent the way Cardinal Von Aschenbach and I led our Church provinces has any influence outside Eiffelland. Your home country and Serenierre became Communist long before we received our Episcopal Consecration; Kadikistan even long before the most of us were born. Engellex has been atheist for several centuries. The fact that the Communists are currently appointing the Priests in the SWR has everything to do with events taking place before I became Aide-Bishop in Innsbruck. What are you talking about me being responsible for Communists in the SWR appointing Priests? Do you really think that I can tell the Government of the SWR whom to appoint priests? Do you really think that I personnally inspired people to ground the SWR? Do you really think that the Government of Serenierre listens to me to appoint Priests of the Twentish Catholic Church? Do you really think that I inspired the leaders of Ostrovakia to prohibit religion because it would be against science? Do you really think that the leaders of Kashtan frightened up of my appearance in such a way that they forbade Christianity? That so-called Eiffellandian domination of Church politics emerged from your fantasy and not from reality. If a two-thirds majority of this conclave will elect you as our Pope, I will abide by that. Until then, I will do everything I can to prevent somebody who wants to base his politics on concocted facts emerging from his own imagination from becoming the Leader of our Church.”

He opened his water bottle again, took a sip of water, closed it, and spoke out one last sentence.

“By the way, before you accuse me of blasphemy, Cardinal Taft, let me give one example of the things Cardinal Von Aschenbach and I did in Eiffelland. we supported unmarried women who became pregnant after having intercourse outside marriage. Indeed, what those women did, was a sin. But instead of taking up a condemning attitude, we reconciled them with becoming a young mother, and provided support to raise their babies while they finished their studies or went out of house for work. Many of those women married later on; those husbands lovefully care for both their wives and the children they didn’t conceive. I can tell you, if we would not have done so but have taken up a condemning attitude as Church politics proscribes, those women would have run away from us, and would have added a second, much worse, sin to their first sin: The sin of abortion. In this way, and with the cooperation of the Eiffellandian Government, we reduced the number of abortions in Eiffelland to a large extent. I don’t think that this train of thought would have emerged from your brain, Cardinal Taft. But maybe I should come back to your question: I expect from a Pope that he does not extract concocted facts from his imagination and present those concocted facts as reality, and I expect from a Pope that he leaves room to be flexible with rules in order to prevent evil.”

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

"I care little for your sophistries, Strelecki. You can paint me as madman all you want, but the difference between us is that I accept that there is a wisdom and a law higher than myself and you, in your hybris, don't. Indeed, this is a cardinal difference."

With a dramatic gesture, Taft turned to Cardinal Donnet. He had tried to be reasonable. He had tried to be compromising. But Taft had hit a stone wall.

"Brother Donnet, I ask you not to allow Strelecki and von Aschenbach to cast a vote from here on."

The gasping and excitement in the conclave was palpable, even despite the high age of the cardinals. Even Espinoza seemed shocked. Had Taft lost his mind? Had the pressure of the campaign become unbearable?

Taft motioned his brothers to calm down. Ironically, Streleckis inflexibility had given him all the ammunition he needed.

"It is my duty, as good servant of the church, to inform you all that Strelecki and von Aschenbach are excommunicated. They are not allowed to vote or hold church offices until their sins have been forgiven. In their roles as Bishops, they have acted against official church policy and ignored papal edicts. Strelecki has admitted so himself, knowing full well that his encouragement of extramarital sex by having the church take on the burden of the consequences of this sinful act, was not in accordance with official church policy and past papal bulls on the issue.

That is a sin that carries excommunicatio latae sententiae."

Taft continued, adressing the whole of the conclave with a tone of playful pity in his voice:

"As we all know, it is the sinful act that excommunicates the sinner, not the church or her dignitaries. Strelecki has given very elaborate explanations for their acts, but the fact of the matter remains: it was a violation of our holy church and her laws. It was a violation that was done in full knowledge of it being a violation. The excommunication of Strelecki and von Aschenbach is a fact that can only be acknowledged at this point, not debated or disputed. It is up to our next pope to decide whether or not their reasonings outweigh the sinful nature of this act and whether or not it can be forgiven. As it is right now, the two will have to stand by, at least temporarily stricken of their rights to vote and their office of cardinals."

Finally, Taft turned to Strelecki and von Aschenbach again:

"Our holy mother church is old, she holds wisdom of many mortal lives and spreads the gospel of a god beyond our full comprehension. Has it ever occured to you that your reasoning might be wrong? That you might be mistaken in thinking you prevented any abortion at all, but that to the contrary, you encouraged many young children to commit sinful acts? The laws of our church are not for the individual to take or dismiss as he sees fit. Your superbia has taken you down a dark path, my former brothers. I can only hope you repent, because despite your sins, your voices would be sorely missed in our halls."

 

[Pelasgia]

"I have told you what I want you to compromise on moments ago, Cardinal," the elderly Patriarch said, "though I would certainly remind you, if the recent tension and exhaustion have already caused you to forget. As for the excommunication of a Cardinal by another, I have yet to hear of greater nonsense, and in the middle of an election at that. The sin might excommunicate the sinner, but who is to judge whether the sin has occurred and therefore whether the sinner is excommunicated? There is but one man on the Lord's good Europe who can decide this: the Pontifex Maximus, the Sole Representative of God on Europe. A mere Cardinal cannot be the judge of this in one of his equals, or two for that matter, especially when the Cardinal in question would benefit from their disenfranchisement and would therefore be anything but impartial. Unless, of course, Cardinal Taft believes that he is guided by the Holy Spirit even before being invested as Pope of our Holy Mother Church."

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

"There is no judge, where the sinner has freely admitted of his sin and spoke of knowing it to be against the will of the church. Strelecki has done so and in his own words, implicated his fellow brother von Aschenbach as well. This is not about me, the heat of the election debate or my personal judgement. This is about the canonical laws we all have sworn to uphold. The matter is laid out clearly before us. I have merely done my duty, as a christian, to point it out.

I am very much aware that this is unusual, perhaps even unprecedented. But so is a cardinal addressing the conclave with a retelling of his own violations of the church as an argument for whom to vote."

 

[Touzen]

"Well, these events are certainly dramatic in their consequences, but, I fear, canonical law and tradition leave us with only one conclusion: That the excommunications that have happened, have happened."

Juun squinted his eyes, resting his gaze upon the Patriarch for a moment, then looked over to the Eiffelanders who had just been masterfully outplayed by their opponent from Implaria.

"This is not about Brother Taft excommunicating anyone. The deed itself carriers with it the consequence. We have all been made aware before entering this room that the release of information about these sacred proceedings before their time would carry with them the consequence of excommunication, no? It is the exactly seem matter in this affair."

Juun paused for a moment, exhaling dramatically.

"But, I believe this does not have to become....common knowledge. It would in fact be quite detrimental to the efforts we have been conducting here to mend the differences within the Church and reveal ourselves as an united body of men wholly devoted to the one true faith.

I say we should find the next Holy Father, and, so God wills it to soften his heart, he should accept the repentance of the excommunicated before their excommunication will ever be known outside of these halls."

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

"Indeed, I concur with brother Juuns wise assesment and, if made Pope, would act in such a manner. The actions of Strelecki and von Aschenbach were sinful acts and excommunicatio latae sententiae does not demand the verdict of a judge. However, they were well intentioned and I believe that the course of events, as it stands, will serve to remind them of their role as servants, not masters, of our holy mother church and the teachings of our lord Jesus Christ."