Civile Veto sive Exclusivam Omnino Reprobamus – The Constitution Commisum nobis of Pius X in the Advent of the First Codification

Abstract

In the months immediately after his election, Pope Pius X established a commission of Cardinals to study the question of the socalled Veto or right of exclusion, i.e. the alleged competence of the more important Catholic Countries, to indicate those members of the Sacred College who were personæ minus gratæ and not to be elected. The constitution Commissum nobis reproved once and for all this and any other interferences of the secular powers in the papal election. The article offers an analysis of the constitution as an important step towards regaining full libertas Ecclesiae in the context of the first codification of Canon Law.