CONCLAVE by Robert Harris (fiction)

I am always excited to read a Robert Harris novel.  Beside being a top-notch writer, his books are meticulously researched and full of with enough suspense to keep one reading without losing interest.  Harris is the author of the wonderful Cicero trilogy, all of which have been reviewed in these pages You will always find out something interesting on whatever subject he has chosen.  This time his subject is the Vatican and the search for a new Pope.

The time is the near future and the old Pope has died. A liberal reformer, he leaves behind a polarized college of cardinals, who under the guidance of Cardinal Lomeli, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, must choose a new Pope from amongst their number.  Lomeli is our narrator and guide, and as soon as the cardinals are sequestered in a spartan, dorm-like building, the deceit and political shenanigans begin, not so very different from what we witness on a daily basis from our own government.  Jockeying for position and votes are four main candidates: Tedesco, an Italian conservative who thinks Popes should always be chosen from the large Italian contingent; Trembley, a Canadian who has few scruples; Adeyemi, an African who has a strong lobby of ultra-right followers; and Bellini, a liberal friend of Lomeli and his personal choice.

The action takes place over a six day period, and here Harris excels at knowing the inner workings of choosing a Pope, all the rituals, necessary prayers, and the importance of tradition in even the most mundane of details.  Each day the cardinals are transported to the historic Sistine Chapel to cast their hand-counted ballots, and each day that no majority is reached, the thousands waiting below see thick black smoke emanate from the specially erected chimney in which the ballots are burned.  This continues until a new Pope is finally chosen.  Not even the interruption of a suicide bomber stops the process.

Matters seemed in hand and set to proceed smoothly, but it isn't long before irregularities are discovered and the dirty little secrets and hypocrisy of some of the members come to light. A surprise member shows up, a late arrival, on the eve of the first vote.  Vincent Benitez, a last minute confirmation made by the recently deceased Pope, was secretly made a cardinal because of the danger of tending to the small Catholic congregation in Iraq. Benitez is a Filipino whose previous experience was in the service of several African nations.

Harris manages to make the process and story suspenseful and exciting.  I highly recommend this book to all readers, as I do all his books.  Besides a good story, the reader is sure to learn a thing or two or three.