In pectore

Since the 15th century, popes have made {{lang|la|in pectore}} appointments to manage complex relations among factions within the Church, when publication of a new cardinal's name might provoke persecution of the individual or of a Christian community or, when the identity of the new cardinal is an open secret, to signal defiance of government opposition or stake out a diplomatic or moral position. Over the centuries, popes have made {{lang|la|in pectore}} appointments in consideration of government and political relations in a wide variety of nations, from Portugal and several European states to the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.

Once his appointment is published, the precedence of a cardinal appointed {{lang|la|in pectore}} is determined by the date of the appointment, not the announcement. This reflects the principle that he has been a cardinal from the earlier date and that membership of the College of Cardinals depends on the decision of the pope, not any ceremony or ritual. The announcement allows the cardinal to receive and wear the symbols of his office, use the titles appropriate to his rank, and to perform the functions specific to a cardinal, most importantly, if otherwise qualified, to participate in a papal conclave. Should the pope die without publishing an appointment he has made {{lang|la|in pectore}}, the appointment lapses.

In the early history of the College of Cardinals, all cardinals appointed were published as a matter of course. Under pressure to maintain a delicate network of alliances in the last years of Western Schism, beginning in 1423 Martin V withheld the names of some he created cardinals, the first {{lang|la|in pectore}} appointments.{{cite book | access-date =23 July 2018 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=mhGwCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA78| page =78 | title=Reclaiming Rome: Cardinals in the Fifteenth Century| first= Carol Mary |last=Richardson| date= 2009 | publisher= Brill Publishers| isbn=9789047425151 | quote= Prospero Colonna and Giuliano Cesarini were made cardinals in pectore on 24 March 1426.}}{{efn|Salvador Miranda, who self-publishes a compendium of information about the College of Cardinals, objects to considering these appointments {{lang|la|in pectore}} because Pope Martin shared the names with the other cardinals,{{cite web|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/consistories-xv.htm#MartinV | first=Salvador | last=Miranda |author-link=Salvador Miranda (historian)|access-date=24 July 2018|oclc=53276621 | website= The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church | title= Consistories for the creation of Cardinals, 15th Century (1394–1503), Martin V| quote= These secret creations are different than those created and reserved in pectore. The latter ones [by Paul III] are known only to the pope while the former creations [by Martin V] are also known to the other cardinals.}}{{Self-published source|date=June 2021}} though the customary distinction is whether a cardinal's name has been made public,{{cite book | access-date=24 July 2018 | title= New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law | first=John P. | last= Beal | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=JKgZEjvB5cEC&pg=PA469 | page=469 | publisher=Paulist Press | date=2000 | isbn= 9780809140664 | quote= After the Roman Pontiff has made his name public...}}{{Catholic Encyclopedia|inline=1|wstitle=In Petto}} "Until they have been publicly announced" and "But the canonists having raised serious doubts as to the validity of such a posthumous publication..." and Martin did make names public in a formal way at a later date. For example, in 1426, to meet the terms established by the Council of Constance (1414–18), he named three French and three Italian cardinals, and four more who were English, German, Spanish, and Greek. He kept the names of four more secret, a Spaniard and three Italians, one of them his nephew, which would have been another source of contention. He published these additional names in November 1430, just three months before his death.}} A century later, Pope Paul III created Girolamo Aleandro a cardinal on 22 December 1536 and published his name on 13 March 1538.{{cite book| url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/girolamo-aleandro_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ | chapter=Aleandro, Girolamo|first=Giuseppe |last= Alberigo |date=1960|volume=2 |title= Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani | language=it |publisher=Istituto Treccani }} Paul III later named five more cardinals {{lang|la|in pectore}}, all of whose names were published within a few years.{{cite web|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/consistories-xvi.htm#PaulIII | first=Salvador | last=Miranda | access-date=29 July 2018 |author-link=Salvador Miranda (historian)|website= The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church | title= Consistories for the creation of Cardinals, 16th Century (1503–1605), Paul III|oclc=53276621}} Pope Pius IV created a cardinal {{lang|la|in pectore}} on 26 February 1561 and became the first to fail to publish such an appointment.{{cite web|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/consistories-xvi.htm#PiusIV | first=Salvador | last=Miranda | access-date=29 July 2018 | website= The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church | title= Consistories for the creation of Cardinals, 16th Century (1503–1605), Pius IV|oclc=53276621}}

Although {{lang|la|in pectore}} appointments were not uncommon in the 17th century, all such appointments were soon published until Pope Innocent XII named two cardinals in 1699 whose names were never published.{{cite web|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/consistories-xvii.htm#InnocentXII| first=Salvador | last=Miranda |author-link=Salvador Miranda (historian)| access-date=29 July 2018 | website= The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church | title= Consistories for the creation of Cardinals, 17th Century (1605–1700), Innocent XII|oclc=53276621}} On 26 April 1773, Pope Clement XIV created 11 cardinals {{lang|la|in pectore}}, none of whom were published.{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=C3qvU0-tatkC&pg=PT383 | title = Keepers of the Keys of Heaven: A History of the Papacy| first = Roger | last= Collins | date = 2009| access-date = 18 July 2018 | publisher = Basic Books| isbn = 9780786744183}}{{page needed|date=July 2018}}

As anti-Catholic hostility among various governments became common, {{lang|la|in pectore}} appointments became much more common during the late 18th and 19th centuries. Previously cases of unpublished {{lang|la|in pectore}} appointments had only occurred when a pope died shortly after creating the cardinal, but popes began to wait much longer to publish such appointments, creating a greater likelihood that a name would remain unpublished. On 23 June 1777, Pope Pius VI created two cardinals {{lang|la|in pectore}} and lived another 22 years without publishing their names.{{cite web|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/consistories-xviii.htm#PiusVI | first=Salvador | last=Miranda | access-date=29 July 2018 | website= The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church | title= Consistories for the creation of Cardinals, 18th Century (1700–1799), Pius VI|oclc=53276621}} In the course of 23 years, Pope Pius VII created 12 cardinals {{lang|la|in pectore}} whose names he published and none whose names went unpublished, though two others died before he published their names.{{cite web|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/consistories-xix.htm#PiusVII | first=Salvador | last=Miranda | access-date=29 July 2018 | website= The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church | title= Consistories for the creation of Cardinals, 19th Century (1800–1903), Pius VII|oclc=53276621}} Pope Leo XII made eight {{lang|la|in pectore}} appointments in just six years, and all were published.{{cite web|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/consistories-xix.htm#LeoXIII | first=Salvador | last=Miranda |author-link=Salvador Miranda (historian)| access-date=29 July 2018 | website= The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church | title= Consistories for the creation of Cardinals, 19th Century (1800–1903), Leo XIII|oclc=53276621}} When the reign of Pope Pius VIII ended unexpectedly after just 19 months, he had created six cardinals and another eight {{lang|la|in pectore}}, whose appointments died with him.{{cite web|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/consistories-xix.htm#PiusVIII | first=Salvador | last=Miranda |author-link=Salvador Miranda (historian)| access-date=29 July 2018 | website= The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church | title= Consistories for the creation of Cardinals, 19th Century (1800–1903), Pius VIII|oclc=53276621}} Pope Gregory XVI created 81 cardinals, 29 of them {{lang|la|in pectore}}, of which six were unpublished.{{cite web|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/consistories-xix.htm#GregoryXVI | first=Salvador | last=Miranda |author-link=Salvador Miranda (historian)| access-date=29 July 2018 | website= The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church | title= Consistories for the creation of Cardinals, 19th Century (1800–1903), Gregory XVI|oclc=53276621}}

The frequency of appointments {{lang|la|in pectore}} declined later in the 19th century. Pope Pius IX made only five such appointments out of 123 cardinals, and all were published within four years of creation. Pope Leo XIII named only seven cardinals out of 147 {{lang|la|in pectore}} and all were published. The only {{lang|la|in pectore}} appointment by Pope Pius X was António Mendes Belo, Patriarch of Lisbon. The Portuguese Republic established in 1910 had adopted severely anticlerical policies. Belo's appointment was revealed on 25 May 1914, the last time Pius created cardinals three months before his death,{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ongwCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA20 | first = Harris M. | last = Lentz III | title= Popes and Cardinals of the 20th Century: A Biographical Dictionary | pages= 20–1 | publisher = McFarland | date= 2009 | isbn = 9781476621555 }} though the Holy See did not recognize the government of Portugal until 1919. Pope Benedict XV made two {{lang|la|in pectore}} appointments in 1916: one, possibly Paul von Huyn,{{cite book| url=http://biographien.ac.at/oebl/infos.htm |title=Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon | chapter= Huyn, Paul Gf. von (1868–1946), Bischof | access-date=24 July 2018 | language=de}} was never published and the other was Adolf Bertram, a German bishop, whose country was at war with Italy. His name was published in December 1919 after the war ended.{{cite book| access-date = 3 December 2017 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ongwCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 | page=24 | title =Popes and Cardinals of the 20th Century: A Biographical Dictionary | first= Harris M. |last=Lentz III |date=2009 | publisher = McFarland & Company | isbn=9781476621555 }}{{cite news| url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1919/12/19/102980754.pdf | access-date=17 July 2018 | work=The New York Times| title= Pope Bestows Red Hats at a Consistory; Rev. J.G. Murray of Hartford Made a Bishop}}{{cite journal| publisher=Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FD5LAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA487 | pages= 485, 487–8 | date=19 December 1919| volume=XI| issue=14 |journal= Acta Apostolicae Sedis| language=la | title=Sacrum Consistorium}} In 1933, Pope Pius XI created two cardinals {{lang|la|in pectore}}: Federico Tedeschini, Nuncio to Spain, and Carlo Salotti, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. They were made public in the consistory of 16 December 1935.{{cite news |title=Pope Cites Dangers Facing the World in Consistory Talk |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1933/03/14/99297855.pdf |access-date=16 July 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=14 March 1933 | first=Arnaldo | last=Cortesi}}{{cite news |title= 20 New Cardinals Created by Pope |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/12/17/93718031.pdf |access-date=16 July 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=17 December 1935| first=Arnaldo | last=Cortesi}}{{cite journal|title= The Second Spanish Republic and the Holy See: 1931–1936| author= José M. Sánchez | journal= Catholic Historical Review | volume= 49 | issue= 1 |date= April 1963 | pages= 47–68, esp. 65–6 |jstor= 25017192}} Although several cardinals from Communist states could not attend his consistories, Pius XII was the first pope since Innocent XIII over two centuries previously to create no cardinals {{lang|la|in pectore}},{{cite web|last=Miranda|first=Salvador|title=Consistories for the creation of Cardinals: 19th Century (1800-1903) |url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/consistories-xix.htm|website=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church}}{{cite magazine|last1=Hadden|first1=Briton|last2=Luce|first2=Henry Robinson|year=1960|magazine=Time|title=Religion: Three in pectore|volume=75|page=55}} but Pope John XXIII made three {{lang|la|in pectore}} appointments on 28 March 1960 and never published them.{{cite news | access-date = 25 October 2017 | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1960/03/31/105424985.pdf | work = The New York Times | date= 31 March 1960 | title= Pope Gives Red Hats to 7 New Cardinals}}{{cite book| access-date = 25 October 2017 | first = Harris M. | last= Lentz III | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ongwCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 | pages= 1–2 | title= Popes and Cardinals of the 20th Century: A Biographical Dictionary | publisher = MacFarland & Company | date=2002| isbn = 9781476621555 }}{{efn|One of the three is often said to be Josyf Slipyj, who was made a cardinal by Paul VI in 1965.{{cite book|title= Vatican II Behind the Iron Curtain | first=Piotr H.|last= Kosicki|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WESjDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA32 | page=32 | date= 2016 | publisher = Catholic University of America Press| isbn=9780813229126}}{{cite book | title = L'Église catholique et le communisme en Europe, 1917–1989: de Lénine à Jean-Paul II | language =fr | first = Philippe | last = Chenaux| page = 341| date = 2009 |publisher= Cerf}} Cardinal Gustavo Testa is cited as the source of this information.{{cite book | title = Giovanni XXIII: gli ultimi testimoni | language = it | publisher = Edizioni Paoline| date =1988 |page=107| first = Luitpold A. | last =Dorn |quote=Alla morte del papa Slipyj era uno dei tre cardinali da lui creati e rimasti « in pectore »: glielo confidò il cardinale Gustavo Testa.}}}}

Pope Paul VI made four {{lang|la|in pectore}} appointments. One of them, Iuliu Hossu, died without his appointment being published, though Paul revealed it a few years later.{{cite news | work = The New York Times | access-date = 22 July 2018 | date= 6 March 1973 | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1973/03/06/90919989.pdf | first = Paul | last=Hofmann | title= Pope, at Installation of Cardinals, Details Possible Reforms in Electing Successors}} Paul made {{lang|la|in pectore}} appointments of Štěpán Trochta on 28 April 1969, published 5 March 1973,{{cite news | work = The New York Times | access-date = 22 July 2018 | date= 6 March 1973 | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1973/03/06/90919989.pdf | first = Paul | last=Hofmann | title= Pope, at Installation of Cardinals, Details Possible Reforms in Electing Successors}} and František Tomášek on 24 May 1976, published 22 June 1977.{{cite news | access-date = 22 July 2018 | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1977/06/03/75081512.pdf | date = 3 June 1977 | work = The New York Times | first = Alvin | last= Shuster | title = Pope Names Top Aide a Cardinal, Making Him Potential Successor}} In the case of Joseph Trinh-Nhu-Khuê, Paul made the appointment {{lang|la|in pectore}} on 28 April 1976 when announcing his next consistory. When the government of Vietnam granted Trinh-Nhu-Khuê a visa to travel to Rome, Paul published the appointment as a surprise by having Trinh-Nhu-Khuê's name called as the last of twenty cardinals created at that consistory on 24 May.{{cite news |last1=Shuster |first1=Alvin |title=Archbishop of Hanoi Among 20 New Cardinals Installed by Pope |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/25/archives/archbishop-of-hanoi-among-20-new-cardinals-installed-by-pope.html |access-date=22 July 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=25 May 1976}}

Pope John Paul II named four cardinals {{lang|la|in pectore}}, three of whom he later revealed: Ignatius Kung Pin-Mei, Bishop of Shanghai, People's Republic of China, appointed {{lang|la|in pectore}} 30 June 1979, published 29 May 1991;{{cite news|title=Pope Names 22 Cardinals; Chinese Prelate Is Identified |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/30/world/pope-names-22-cardinals-chinese-prelate-is-identified.html|first=Clyde|last=Haberman |access-date=24 July 2018|work=The New York Times|date=30 May 1991}} Marian Jaworski, Archbishop of Lviv, Ukraine; and Jānis Pujāts of Riga, Latvia, both of whom were appointed {{lang|la|in pectore}} on 21 February 1998, and published 29 January 2001.{{cite news|last=Stanley|first=Alexandra|title=Pope Adds 7 Cardinals to a Record 37 Chosen Last Week|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/29/world/pope-adds-7-cardinals-to-a-record-37-chosen-last-week.html|access-date=24 July 2018 |work=The New York Times|date=29 January 2001}} John Paul created the fourth in 2003, but never revealed the name, and the appointment expired with the pope's death. Had the name been discovered in the pope's will, the appointment would still have operated under {{lang|la|in pectore}} rules, and would have been considered expired.{{cite news| url = http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bal-te.hoot07apr07-story.html |title=With pope's death, secret cardinal will never be known | work= The Baltimore Sun |agency= Los Angeles Times News Service|date=7 April 2005 | access-date = 17 July 2018 |quote= "If the holy father had made that person's name known before dying, it would have been disclosed by now," said Cardinal Edmund Casimir Szoka of Michigan. "It's over. That person will no longer be a cardinal."}}

Neither Pope Benedict XVI nor Pope Francis named a cardinal {{lang|la|in pectore}}.{{cite web |last=Miranda|first=Salvador |title=Consistories for the creation of Cardinals 21st Century (2005-) |url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/consistories-xxi.htm |website=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church}}{{Failed verification|date=May 2025}}

Five cardinals who were later elected pope were created cardinals {{lang|la|in pectore}}. In each case, publication followed closely upon their appointment. They were:

• Pope Leo X, born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, appointed {{lang|la|in pectore}} 9 March 1489, published 23 March 1492 by Pope Innocent VIII{{cite book| url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/papa-leone-x_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ | chapter=Leone X, papa|first=Giuseppe |last= Alberigo |date=1960|volume=2 |title= Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani | language=it |publisher=Istituto Treccani }}
• Pope Innocent X, born Giovanni Battista Pamphili, appointed {{lang|la|in pectore}} 30 August 1627, published 16 November 1629 by Pope Urban VIII{{cite encyclopedia |title=Innocent X |encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of Popes |editor1-first=J. N. D. |editor1-last=Kelly |editor2-first=Michael J. |editor2-last=Walsh |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2014 |orig-year=2010 |edition=3rd |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/abstract/10.1093/acref/9780191795459.001.0001/acref-9780191795459-e-274?rskey=ccokDh&result=151 |isbn=9780191726811 |url-access=subscription}}
• Pope Benedict XIV, born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, appointed {{lang|la|in pectore}} 9 December 1726, published 30 April 1728 by Pope Benedict XIII{{cite book |last1=Schutte |first1=Anne Jacobson |title=By Force & Fear: Taking and Breaking Monastic Vows in Early Modern Europe |date=2011 |publisher=Cornell University Press |page=112 |isbn=978-0801463181 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kVw_WjMkCVYC&pg=PA112 |access-date=23 July 2018}}
• Pope Gregory XVI, born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari, appointed {{lang|la|in pectore}} 21 March 1825, published 13 March 1826 by Pope Leo XII{{cite book |first1=J. N. D.|last1= Kelly |first2= Michael |last2=Walsh |title=Dictionary of Popes |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn= 978-0-19-104479-3 |access-date=23 July 2018|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JlExDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT720}}
• Pope Pius IX, born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, appointed {{lang|la|in pectore}} 23 December 1839, published 14 December 1840 by Pope Gregory XVI{{cite book |editor-first1=James|editor-last1= Corkery|editor-first2= Thomas |editor-last2=Worcester |title=The Papacy Since 1500: From Italian Prince to Universal Pastor |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=126 |chapter=The social question in the papacy of Leo XIII |first=Thomas|last=Massaro|isbn= 9780521509879|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3YycTeoSyk8C&pg=PA126 |access-date=23 July 2018}}

• In The Shoes of the Fisherman (1963) by Morris West, a Ukrainian, Kiril Pavlovich Lakota, arrives in Rome and is revealed to have been appointed a cardinal {{lang|la|in pectore}} by the previous pope.{{cite magazine | access-date = 23 December 2023 | url = https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,896853,00.html | magazine = Time | title = Books: When the Pope Was Russian | date = 31 May 1963}}
• In Vatican: A novel (1986) by Malachi Martin, a pope on his deathbed reveals that he had named the central character, Richard Lansing, a cardinal {{lang|la|in pectore}}.{{cite news |title=Vatican by Malachi Martin |work=Publishers Weekly |access-date=11 December 2017 |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-06-015478-3}}
• In Father Elijah by Michael D. O'Brien, the titular character is appointed bishop {{lang|la|in pectore}} and sent to his new, remote diocese in order to evade arrest for the framed murder of his friend.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}
• In The Secret Cardinal (2007) by Tom Grace, the pope enlists a cardinal's godson, former Navy Seal Nolan Kilkenny, to rescue a prelate named a cardinal {{lang|la|in pectore}} twenty years earlier from a Chinese prison.{{cite interview | work = Zenit | access-date = 18 July 2018 | url = https://zenit.org/articles/cardinal-s-witness-inspires-novel/ | first = Carrie | last = Gress | date = 25 November 2007 | title = Cardinal's Witness Inspires Novel | archive-date = 18 July 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180718205347/https://zenit.org/articles/cardinal-s-witness-inspires-novel/ | url-status = dead }}
• In Conclave (2016) by Robert Harris, Vincent Benítez, a Filipino serving as Archbishop of Baghdad, arrives just before the start of a conclave with a document that proves he was named a cardinal {{lang|la|in pectore}} by the late pope. To explain this unusual procedure, Harris has the dean of the College of Cardinals remind a cardinal that the late pope "revised the canon law on {{lang|la|in pectore}} appointments shortly before he died".{{cite book| title = Conclave | first = Robert | last= Harris | date= 2016 | publisher = Robert A. Knopf | pages= 56ff | quote= 'He has a letter of appointment from the late Pope addressed to the archdiocese of Baghdad, which they kept secret at the Holy Father's request.'{{nbsp}}[...] The papers certainly looked authentic....}}{{cite news |title=Conclave by Robert Harris review—a triumphant Vatican showdown |work=The Guardian |date=24 September 2024 |access-date=18 July 2018|first=Ian|last=Sansom |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/24/conclave-by-robert-harris-review}} In the film version, this hidden cardinal is Mexican and the archbishop of Kabul.

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