Accessus is a term applied to the voting in

conclave A papal conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a bishop of Rome, also known as the pope. Catholics consider the pope to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and the earthly head of the Catholic Church. Co ...

for the election of a

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

, by which a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...

changes his vote and accedes to some other candidate. Accessus voting was first used in the

papal conclave, 1455 The 1455 papal conclave (April 4–8) elected Cardinal Alfons Borja Pope Callixtus III following the death of Pope Nicholas V. The conclave was the first in the Apostolic Palace, the site of all but five papal conclaves thereafter.Chambers, DS. 197 ...

. The procedure was likely adopted from the

Roman Senate The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...

where an acceding Senator would physically move to join the proponents of a proposal. Josep M. Colomer and Iain McLean. (1998). "Electing Popes: Approval Balloting and Qualified-Majority Rule". ''The Journal of Interdisciplinary History'', Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 1–22.

Description

When the votes of the cardinals in the first ballot have been counted, and no candidate has achieved a two-thirds majority, at the following vote opportunity is granted for a cardinal to change his vote, by writing "''Accedo domino Cardinali ...''", mentioning one of those who have been voted for, but not the cardinal for whom he has already voted. If he should not wish to change his vote, the cardinal can vote "''Nemini''" ("for no one"). If these supplementary votes of accession, added to those a candidate has received, equal two-thirds of the total vote, then there is an election. If not, the ballots are burned, and the usual ballot takes place the next day. Election by accessus was only possible because, until the mid-20th century, the ballots used by each cardinal were identified by a text of scripture in the back side. When a cardinal decided to use the right of accession, his two ballots had to "be compared and identified by the text on the reverse face of the ballot, so as to prevent a double vote for the same candidate by any elector". Thus, voting by accession eliminated the secrecy of the first ballot. Voting by accessus was prohibited by the Cardinal Dean at the

1903 conclave The 1903 papal conclave followed the death of Pope Leo XIII after a reign of 25 years. Some 62 cardinals participated in the balloting. Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria asserted the right claimed by certain Catholic rulers to veto a candidate for t ...

and later this form of election was suppressed from the Church's legislation.

Notes

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