Page:On papal conclaves (IA a549801700cartuoft).djvu/135

Rh he is simply created by the sovereign. It is true that the Council of Trent, in its twenty-fourth session, ruled that the same canonical conditions required from Bishops should be incumbent on Cardinals. But this prescription has been habitually disregarded, and it would seem as if celibacy were the only palpable qualification which is absolutely indispensable. Let a man have no wife living and there appears to be no tangible obstacle to arrest a Pope, if so disposed, from naming him Cardinal. It would, however, seem that a lay Cardinal becomes de facto so far subject to ecclesiastical discipline as to require the Pope's consent to return legitimately into secular life and to lay aside the insignia of his rank. There is a long list of Cardinals who have done so, but with the exception of rebellious ones like Chatillon, they all had sought and obtained the Pope's sanction. On the other hand,