SEDE VACANTE 2005
April 2, 2005—April 19, 2005
Eduardo Card. Martínez Somalò
 |
Æ SEDE • APOSTOLICA • VACANTE • MMV (Engraver:) V. Deseta . Crossed keys, connected by tassels, the Ombrellone above. |
 |
EDVARDVS • CARD • MARTINEZ • S. • R • E • CAMERARIVS (Engraver: ) M. Masini Arms of Eduardo Card. Martinez Somalo, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, surmounted by the Cardinal's Hat with fifteen tassels on each side. His Motto: CARITAS ET VERITAS |
5000 bronze specimens were issued; each is numbered on the rim
 |
AG CITTA | DEL | VATICANO | 5 EURO The Holy Spirit inside a square VENI•SANCTE | SPIRITVS [below the dove: R(oma) mint mark ?] |
 |
SEDE | VACANTE | MMV (Engraver: ) D. LONGO Arms of Eduardo Card. Martinez Somalo, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, on a double cross, surmounted by the Cardinal's Hat with fifteen tassels on each side, the Ombrellone above all.. His Motto: CARITAS ET VERITAS Minter: Momoni Inc. |
 |
50 centos •SEDE•VACANTE• MMV• CITTÀ DEL VATICANO and twelve stars. Arms of Eduardo Card. Martinez Somalò, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, surmounted by the Ombrellone, crossed keys, and the Cardinal's Hat with fifteen tassels on each side. |
EDUARDO CARDINAL MARTINEZ SOMALO was born at Baños de Rio Tobia in the Diocese of Calahorra, Navarre, Spain, on March 31, 1927. He studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University
in Rome, at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, and at the Pontifical Lateran University, where he received at doctorate in Canon Law. He was ordained in 1950. After pastoral work in his home diocese
he became a secretary in the Secretariat of State at the Vatican and a faculty member at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. He was briefly counsellor at the Apostolic Delegation in London, until
his appointment as Assessor in the Seretariat of State in Rome (1970-1975). He was sent as Nuncio to Columbia in November 1975, and for that purpose made Titular Archbishop of Tagora. In 1979 he
became Substitute Secretary of State. He was created Cardinal Deacon on June 28, 1988, and served as Prefect of several congregations in the Vatican bureaucracy (Sacraments, Consecrated Life), from which
he retired in 2004. He was named Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church on April 5, 1993, and retired on April 4, 2007, being succeeded by Tarcisio Card. Bertone, the Secretary of State of His Holiness.
Conclave
The Conclave of 2005 was a notably short one, lasting only two days. There were 115 electors, which mean that 77 votes were needed for election. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, was the favorite Virtually all of the voting cardinals had been appointed by the late pope, John Paul II, and Ratzinger had been his closest collaborator for more than 22 years. There was a strong sentiment for continuity in policy, since most of John Paul II's appointees had been conservative and Ultramontane in sympathy, and Ratzinger was the person best suited to provide it. Unconfirmed rumor has it that there was another candidate, Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio, SJ, of Buenos Aires, but the election of Razinger on the fourth ballot suggests that his challenge was not a very serious one. Leaks indicate that the voting went as follows: I: Ratzinger 47, Bergoglio 10. II: R 65, B 35. III: R 72, B 40. IV: R 84, B 26.
Benedict XVI celebrated the solemn beginning of his pontificate on April 24, 2005, and took possession of the Lateran Basilica on May 7, 2005.
