Page:On papal conclaves (IA a549801700cartuoft).djvu/140

 124 at the end of each year. By the Bull of Pius it was, however, distinctly ruled that no Cardinal still a layman should exercise the privileges of his dignity in Conclave. To be entitled to vote in the election of a Pope he must have taken deacon's orders, and this rule has been observed in practice until in Rome it is the general off-hand statement that this is laid down in canon law. Rut here we find, on going to the fundamental authorities, that, as is so often the case in matters connected with the subject of Conclaves, the current version is not accurate. In Gregory 's (1621) elaborate Bull and Ritual, which are at the present moment the ruling statutes for Papal elections, it is distinctly laid down that this exclusion is only against such lay Cardinals as may not be furnished with a specific Papal dispensation. The power of especial favour here recognised has not been exercised generally, and it may be practically correct to say that lay Cardinals have, as a rule, to take orders before being admitted to a Conclave. In this century, this was certainly the case with Cardinal Albani, who became a deacon only when in 1823 the Pope's death offered the opportunity of