SEDE VACANTE 1978
(August 6, 1978-August 26, 1978)
Jean Cardinal Villot
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AG 500 lire • SEDE • VACAN TE • MCMLXXVIII • GISMONDI Arms of Jean Card. Villot, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, crossed keys behind; surmounted by Cardinal's Hat, with fifteen tassels and, above all, the Ombrellone. |
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• VENI • SANCTE • SPIRITVS || STATO • DELLA • CITTA | DEL • VATICANO | • L. 500 • The Holy Spirit, surrounded by rays of light. Berman, p. 220 #3498. KM 140. |
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AG proof Obv.: SEDE • APOSTOLICA • VACANTE • MCMLXXVIII • Keys of St. Peter, crossed on the pole of the Ombrellone, joined by a cord. GISMONDI |
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SEDE VACANTE
(September 28, 1978—October 16, 1978)
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AG 500 lire SEDE VACANTE | SEPTEMBER MCMLXXVIII Arms of Jean Card. Villot, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, crossed keys behind; surmounted by Cardinal's Hat, with fifteen tassels and above all the Ombrellone. |
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VENI SANCTE SPIRITVS || STATO | CITTA | DEL VATICANO | L. 500 The Holy Spirit, surrounded by rays of light in the form of a cross. Berman, p. 221 #3500. KM 141. |
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AG proof Obv.: SEDE • APOSTOLICA | ITERVM • VACANTE • MCMLXXVIII • Keys of St. Peter, crossed on the pole of the Ombrellone, joined by a cord. R•VISTOLI |
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Leaders
JEAN CARDINAL VILLOT (1905-1979) was born near Clermont-Ferrand in central France. He was ordained priest in Rome in 1930, during his studies at the Pontifical Angelicum Athenaeum. From 1934, he worked in the Archdiocese of Lyon in France, as a faculty member at the seminary and at the Catholic University; he also did pastoral work in the diocese until 1950. He was Secretary of the French Episcopal Conference from 1950 to 1954. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Paris in 1954, and Coadjutor Archbishop of Lyon in 1959, succeeding to the Archdiocese in 1965. In 1965 he was created Cardinal Priest of SSma. Trinita al Monte. On May 2, 1969 he became Secretary of State of the Vatican City State, and was named Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church on October 16, 1970, a post he held until his death on March 9, 1979. In 1971 he was appointed President of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum" (resigned September 1978). He was promoted Cardinal Bishop of Frascati on December 12, 1974. He died in Rome on March 9, 1979.
The Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals was Carlo Cardinal Confalonieri (1893-1986). He had been Cardinal Achille Ratti's conclavist in the Conclave of 1922, and when Ratti was elected Pope Pius XI, he served as his Secretary until 1939. In 1941 he was appointed Archbishop of Aquila. In 1950 he became Secretary of the Sacred Congregation for Seminaries and Universities and titular Archbishop of Nicopolis ad Nestum. He was made Cardinal Priest of S. Agnese fuori le mura in December 1958 by John XXIII. He was promoted to Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina in 1972, and became Dean of the Sacred College on December 12, 1977. Because he had passed the age of 80, he was not allowed to participate in the conclaves on 1978, though he did preside at the Congregations of Cardinals leading up to the Conclave.
August
Cardinal Villot was strongly taken to task at the time for prolonging the beginning of the August Conclave to the latest possible moment. Albino Cardinal Luciani, Patriarch of Venice, was elected on the first day of the Conclave, on the third ballot (August 26, 1978).
September
The September Conclave was overshadowed by charges that began the day of John Paul I's death, that the pope had been assassinated. Villot's official story of the death of the pope and the discovery of the body by his staff was immediately discredited, and the proceedings went forward in an atmosphere of suspicion and criticism of the Roman Curia's management of the Interregnum. The leading candidates were the extremely conservative Giuseppe Card. Siri (Genoa) and the progressive Giovanni Card. Benelli (Florence). When the Italian candidates were unable to muster sufficient support, the Cardinals, impelled by Cardinals Koenig (Vienna) Enrique y Tarancon (Madrid) and Krol (Philadelphia), turned to Karol Cardinal Wojtyla of Cracow in Poland, who was elected pope (John Paul II) on the eighth ballot on October 16, 1978.
