Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro

Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro (17 August 1843 – 16 December 1913) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church, remembered as the last candidate for the papacy to have his election blocked through the "jus exclusivae", the monarchical veto once claimed by Catholic sovereigns.

Born in Polizzi Generosa, Sicily, he was the son of Ignazio Rampolla, Count of Tindaro, and Orsola Errante. Elevated to the Sacred College in the consistory of 14 March 1887, he was created Cardinal-Priest by Pope Leo XIII and assigned the titular church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere on 26 May of that year. Soon afterward, on 2 June, he became Secretary of State, in which role he continued to rely on his trusted aide from his earlier diplomatic service in Spain, Giacomo della Chiesa, the future Pope Benedict XV.

On 21 March 1894, Leo XIII appointed him Archpriest of Saint Peter’s Basilica, further cementing Rampolla’s position among the leading figures of the Roman Curia.

As Secretary of State, Cardinal Rampolla influenced Catholic political strategy across Europe. He supported the Austrian Christian Social Party under Karl Lueger, who served as mayor of Vienna from 1897 to 1910, and he championed a Catholic political vision that was both anti-liberal and, controversially, aligned with currents of anti-Semitism then rising in Central Europe. At the same time, Rampolla shifted papal foreign policy away from Austria-Hungary and toward France. Domestically, he opposed successive Italian governments, arguing that confrontation offered the Holy See its best chance to reclaim influence and possibly restore temporal sovereignty over the former Papal States. He also defended the Church against new civil codes aimed at restricting clerical activity, and publicly urged French Catholics to support Prime Minister Jules Méline during the Dreyfus Affair.

The 1903 Conclave: A Papacy Denied
At the death of Leo XIII in 1903, Rampolla entered the conclave as the presumed favorite to succeed him. His election appeared imminent until the Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph I exercised the "jus exclusivae". Delivered by Cardinal Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko, Archbishop of Kraków, the imperial veto abruptly halted Rampolla’s ascent. Reports from the conclave indicate that he had secured sufficient support to become pope, had the veto not been invoked.

Though denied the papal throne, Rampolla’s influence endured through his protégés, most notably Benedict XV, and his thwarted candidacy marked the final use of the monarchical veto in the Church’s history.