Conclave Language

I was planning to do a little research to see if I could find the answer to a language-related question I had about the upcoming conclave of cardinals to choose the next Pope, but Slate's Explainer beat me to it.  The question is this: what language do the cardinals speak to each other during the conclave?

Explainer's answer is that they probably speak Italian, but nobody really knows because conclaves are conducted in strict secrecy, so the cardinals can't shed any light on the matter afterwards.  In addition, according to another Slate article, only five of the cardinals eligible to vote participated in the last Papal election.  The secrecy and the small number or repeat electors have an interesting consequence: it might be that every conclave of cardinals, especially after a long Papal reign, essentially decide anew what language to use—there's no rule or tradition that can be transmitted, so they have to work it out for themselves.

It would be fascinating to be a fly on the wall during the moment of decision, that awkward silence during which 117 guys in red eyeball each other, until one of them finally clears his throat and chooses a language.  In the old days it seems likely that Latin or Italian would be the obvious choice, but because today's cardinals are from such a wide range of countries, it's possible that the deliberations, especially between subsets of the cardinals, might take place in Spanish, English, or whatever other language the group happens to share.  It's too bad we'll never know.

Comments

[Angelo]

Hmm ... they might all be old enough to have some Latin down, in which case "business" might be transacted in Latin and other discussions outside formal proceedings in the langauge common to the discussants. (Sometimes, the common language is Latin.) That's my guess anyway.

[polyglot conspiracy]

Interesting! I hadn't thought about this. My money's on English. (When in doubt, my money's always on English.)

[language hat]

I find it hard to believe they'd use anything but Latin, where they are all more or less on equal ground. Using any other language, even English, would be a considerable disadvantage to some cardinals. (If they're weak at Latin, it's their own damn fault!)

[ACW]

I would be personally disappointed to find that the Cardinals did not use Latin in conclave. If this were really the case, it would seal the coffin: Latin would be dead, dead, dead. Bonk it with a little silver hammer and call out Latina three times; it won't answer. Surely if there were any forum which justified the use of Latin, this one would be it?

On the other hand, it's not my religion, and they can speak Yiddish if they want. In fact that would be pretty cool too.

Hey, maybe they speak a secret Vatican conclave language that only Cardinals learn ... it has a tiny vocabulary, containing all and only the necessary words for discussing the qualities of papabile. That would be cool. They go into the Sistine chapel and break out in weird gabble:

Njaak-njaak uum qibilizogonkubarq Wojtilagug Karolgug vond? Iigeb. Zaa!a uudeb vatizeqibilub...

[polyglot conspiracy]

I like that idea, ACW. Coming this fall to a theatre near you: "The Conclave Code." ("Da Vatican Code"?)

[Alistair]

*sigh* the only language I suspect they use is complete bollocks...these things normally are. The Conclave is probably just a Vatican excuse to sit round and shoot the breeze for a few days, I sincerely believe that the Candidate has already been chosen and that they are only going through the motions, just like any other secret society (secret as in "we know you exist and that you have a public face but their are shadowy goings on behind the scenes that no one knows" kind of secret society) election. But hey! That's just the conspiracy theorist in me, and do we really care?

[NW]

I would have the gravest doubts about the professional credentials of any so-called cardinal who couldn't conduct themself in Latin. In fact I think not being able to should be grounds for exclusion, like turning 80 or converting to Islam after the fourteenth ballot.