New Pope: Saint Martha House to be particularly cramped more than ever before

Saint Martha House will be particularly cramped during this conclave, with 133 cardinals entitled to vote in the election of a new pope – more than ever before.

Only a few hundred metres separate the Vatican’s guest quarters in Saint Martha House and the Sistine Chapel, the hub of the process to appoint a successor to the late pope Francis.

The cardinals will commute back and forth within the Vatican walls between the voting rounds of the conclave in the Sistine Chapel to the residence, where the late pope lived in preference to the much grander Apostolic Palace.

How often depends solely on them – they are not required to indulge in hasty ballot casting – and the electors are duly accommodated in the residence during this tense and often protracted process.

As in the Sistine Chapel, they are completely shielded from the outside world while at rest: All mobile phones and electronic devices must be handed in, windows are sealed and shutters locked. Televisions and newspapers are also forbidden.

The Vatican is used to hosting cardinals in the five-storey Domus Sanctae Marthae, as it is officially known.

After the conclaves of 2005 and 2013, this is the third time that the papal electors have stayed in the residence during the conclave.

Previously – most recently in 1978 – the cardinals spent the night in the Apostolic Palace. In the past, sleeping cells were even set up in the Sistine Chapel and adjoining rooms for this purpose.

Pope John Paul II had the Saint Martha House built between 1992 and 1996.

In times when no conclave is held, the inconspicuous building in the south of Vatican City accommodates guests of the pope and the Roman Curia, the administrative institutions of the Holy See.

The reason Saint Martha House will be particularly cramped during this conclave is because the premises contain only 106 suites, 22 single rooms and one larger apartment.

One suite may not be used: the guest house was Francis’ last residence, and his suite, number 201, is still closed with a red ribbon and a wax seal that only the new pope is allowed to break.

Some cardinals, therefore, have to move to rooms in an adjacent building.

The move-in date for all of them is from Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning before the big opening Mass of the conclave.

Until then, the rooms will be prepared for the coming days of full occupancy.

The cardinals will not be completely alone in the guest house: Medical staff, cooks and other workers will also stay in the buildings during the conclave and care for the distinguished guests during this time.

But Saint Martha House is not just where the voting clerics sleep: It is also a place to talk, discuss, and possibly forge alliances after inconclusive ballots.

There are several ways to meet: in the dining room, in the corridors or in the rooms. Pope Francis wrote in his autobiography that he was bombarded with questions in the guest house before his election.
(dpa/NAN)