Page:On papal conclaves (IA a549801700cartuoft).djvu/147

 Rh A Cardinal's right to record his vote at Papal elections is regarded as so sacred that it has been guarded by perfectly exceptional provisions, such as seem to constitute in canon law the single limitation set on the Pope's plenary authority. It has been distinctly ruled that no censure, suspension, interdict, nor even excommunication, can involve forfeiture by a Cardinal of his right to exercise this specific privilege of his order. There is no more startling provision in the whole Roman organization; indeed it is so startling that many Catholics will be disposed at the first blush to doubt its authenticity. Yet does this enactment stand not merely as an obsolete curiosity on some forgotten page in the statute-book; Roman Curialists hold it to be still in full force, and when the last case in point occurred, in 1740, with Cardinal Coscia, it was invoked, and strictly acted upon without discussion.