He conclave that will take the cardinals to the election of the new Pope can be eternalized. The story, as we will see below, is full of examples that give us an idea of what can happen when those doors are closed. To get an idea, the meeting that ended with the announcement of Gregorio X took Almost three yearsso much that they even removed the roof to Encourage them To make a decision. In that context, the menu in food can be made very heavy.
What do future potatoes eat. For more than 750 years, foods served during papal conclaves have been subject to strict rules seeking to preserve the Absolute confidentiality of the choice process. What at first glance may seem like a lower logistics detail (feeding 135 cardinals for days, weeks or years of confinement) is, in fact, a part deeply ritualized and guarded of the most secret event of the Catholic Church.
The food, like the word, can communicate, and it is precisely that potential that has motivated a system of almost obsessive control It prevents, for example, that closed cakes, whole chickens or drinks in opaque containers are served. In past times, an empanada could hide an encrypted message or a dirty napkin could bring news abroad. Today, concerns focus more on electronic devices, but the logic of surveillance It remains intact. What the cardinals eat, how they eat it and who is still part of a complex symbolic and practical framework that protects the White smoke mystery.
Millenary tradition. The BBC counted That the origin of these restrictions dates back to 1274, when Pope Gregory X, after suffering in his own flesh the longest conclave in history (1268–1271), It imposed severe norms to avoid stagnations: absolute isolation and progressive rationing. If after three days there was no consensus, the cardinals would receive only one meal a day, and after eight, only bread and water. Although these rules softened in the fourteenth century, with Clemente VI Authorizing three -stroke meals, the essence of control remained.
The food ceased to be a privilege and became part of the confinement ritual. During the Renaissance, the famous chef Bartolomeo Scappi (considered the first media chef in history) described in detail the CULINARY PROTOCOL OF CONCLAVE that chose the Pope July III: Meals Transported by shifts raffled, reviewed by tasters, delivered through a RUOTA (A kind of mural tourniquet that prevented visual contact between chefs and cardinals) and supervised by the Swiss and Italian guard. Nothing was left to chance: food was simple but abundant, and napkins, inspected one by one.
The Sistine Chapel, the place where the conclave is celebrated
Austera meals. In contrast to the Renaissance sophistication described by SCAPPI (salads, fruits, charcuterie, wine and fresh water, all served in private cells decorated with silk), the current church has opted for a Freekness messageaccording to Pope’s style Francisco. For the conclave that begins on May 7, they will be the nuns of the Domus Sanctae Marthae Those who prepare simple dishes of Lazio’s kitchen and Abruzzo: minestrone, spaghetti, arrosticini and boiled vegetables.
Despite the change in preparation, the intention is the same: that nothing between or leaves without supervision. The kitchen remains a place of potential risk, and its surveillance, a ritual need. In fact, some of it we already saw in the movie Conclavewhere this tension is dramatized by showing the kitchen as the true intrigues center, and where human interaction continues to occur even when everything else is silent. Obviously, the film cannot be taken as an exact reflection of reality, but it is right in a key: in these events where the word is limited, everyday gestures (such as sharing a dish or lifting a drink) charge a Extraordinary meaning.
From luxury to duty. For all this too, before being held, many cardinals occur One last taste In his Roman favorite restaurants, such as AL PASSETTO DI BORGOa few meters from the Basilica of San Pedro. There, some have orders already famous: lasagna for Donald Wuerl, grilled squid for Francesco Coccopalmerio.
We talk about dinners loaded with that possible future nostalgia: the last free meal before plunging into the ritual atmosphere of the conclave, where each bite is observed and each measured spoon. That contrast between freedom and control, between the bustle of the Roman dining room and the silence of the papal refectory, not only defines the passage towards the isolation, but also highlights The symbolic weight that has food as a threshold between the outside world and the sacred closure.
Surveillance that endures. Although today is not afraid to the poison As in the Renaissance, and the priority is no longer to avoid a popular riot for a stagnant choice, the logic of Total isolation continues. Food surveillance, even with modern resources, maintains the original philosophy: prevent interference, protect the stealth, and preserve the holiness of the process.
The fact that a cardinal leaves the refectory and between the Sistine chapel with a full stomach but the mind focused only on its vote, is not accidental. The food cannot distract, nor can it become a vehicle of external influences. Therefore, even if the stuffed chickens are no longer reviewed in search of secret messages, in the Vatican It continues to sweep In search of microphones and hidden devices.
A church metaphor. If you want also, food surveillance is not only a matter of security, but a Identity expression same of the Church. In a moment of transition, when the future spiritual leader of 1.4 billion Of Catholics is at stake, each gesture is ritualized. From that perspective, eating ceases to be a biological need to become a liturgical act of containment, discipline and community.
The Conclave table, therefore, is not only a place of livelihood, but of Communion and Secret. Of course, quite possibly also and while the cardinals prepare to choose the successor, their Excellences They will remember That last dish of lasagna in Rome.
Image | Catholic Church, Gloria García, Maus-trauden
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