Who's Involved?

A lot of folks have been wondering who precisely is involved in the upcoming conclave–apart from the cardinal electors themselves, that is.

Well, a good test of that is who will be required to swear the oath of secrecy concerning the conclave. The Vatican Information Service recently released a list of the folks who’ll be required to do that. Here ’tis:

  • The Secretary of the College of Cardinals.
  • The master of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.
  • The masters of pontifical ceremonies.
  • The religious who supervise the pontifical sacristy.
  • The ecclesiastic chosen by the cardinal dean to help him in his duties.
  • The religious charged with hearing confessions in the various languages.
  • Doctors and nurses.
  • The personnel for preparing meals and cleaning.
  • Technical service personnel (Universi Dominici gregis, paras. 5 and 51).
  • Personnel responsible for transporting the cardinal electors from the ‘Domus Sanctae Marthae’ to the Apostolic Palace.
  • Elevator attendants at the Apostolic Palace.
  • Priests admitted as assistants to some of the Cardinals.

So there you have it! Those are the folks who’ll be involved!

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."