Vatican Staff is to Be Sworn to Secrecy05/05 06:11

   

   VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Cleaners and cooks. Doctors and nurses. Even drivers 
and elevator operators.

   All the support staff for the cardinals who will elect the successor to Pope 
Francis are taking an oath of secrecy on Monday ahead of the conclave that's 
starting on Wednesday.

   The punishment for breaking the oath? Automatic excommunication.

   The oath-taking is being held in the Pauline Chapel at the Vatican for all 
those assigned to the upcoming conclave. They include clerics in support roles, 
including confessors speaking various languages. The cardinals themselves will 
take their oath on Wednesday in the Sistine Chapel, before they cast their 
first ballots.

   But an array of laypeople are also required to house and feed the cardinals. 
A conclave's duration cannot be predicted -- and it will only be known when 
white smoke rises out of the Sistine Chapel chimney to signal a winner.

   All those people will be sequestered to be on hand for any medical needs, 
and maintain the majestic beauty appropriate for the election of the next head 
of the 1.4 billion strong Catholic Church.

   The oath

   The provisions for the oath-taking are laid down in Vatican law.

   St. John Paul II rewrote the regulations on papal elections in a 1996 
document that remains largely in force, though Pope Benedict XVI amended it 
twice before he resigned in 2013. He tightened the oath of secrecy, making 
clear that anyone who reveals what went on inside the conclave faces automatic 
excommunication.

   In John Paul's rules, excommunication was always a possibility, but Benedict 
revised the oath that liturgical assistants and secretaries take to make it 
explicit, saying they must observe "absolute and perpetual secrecy" and 
explicitly refrain from using any audio or video recording devices.

   They now declare that they: "Promise and swear that, unless I should receive 
a special faculty given expressly by the newly elected pontiff or by his 
successors, I will observe absolute and perpetual secrecy with all who are not 
part of the College of Cardinal electors concerning all matters directly or 
indirectly related to the ballots cast and their scrutiny for the election of 
the Supreme Pontiff.

   "I likewise promise and swear to refrain from using any audio or video 
equipment capable of recording anything which takes place during the period of 
the election within Vatican City, and in particular anything which in any way, 
directly or indirectly, is related to the process of the election itself.

   "I take this oath fully aware that an infraction thereof will incur the 
penalty of automatic excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See. So help me 
God and these Holy Gospels, which I touch with my hand."

   Preparations underway

   The Sistine Chapel has already undergone a week-long transformation 
following the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on April 21 at age 88.

   Technicians installed a floating floor to level out the space and make way 
for ceremonial furnishings, including tables for the electors and their aides, 
which are draped by Vatican upholsterers.

   The famous stove used to signal the voting outcomes was placed in its 
designated corner, a placement dictated by protocol, and firefighters installed 
the chimney on the roof.

   Twelve technicians and maintenance craftsmen will remain inside for the 
duration, maintaining temperature, lighting, and electrical systems, and 
assisting with ceremonial logistics like operating the stove, the Vatican City 
State administration said.

   As tradition dictates, all windows in the conclave zone are darkened to 
guarantee privacy. Nearly 80 access points around the perimeter are sealed with 
lead on the eve of the conclave.

   A colonel and a major of the Pontifical Swiss Guard Corps are among those 
taking the oath -- they will be responsible for surveillance near the Sistine 
Chapel, the frescoed Renaissance jewel where 133 cardinal electors will be 
voting.