When the cardinals assembled in the Sistine Chapel attention focused on Count Mariano Cardinal Rampolla del Tindaro, Leo's Secretary of State. Rampolla was seen as the leading papabile (a cardinal thought likely to be elected pope). As expected Rampolla was close to being elected, but was then vetoed in the name of Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph by Prince Jan Maurycy Pawel, Cardinal Puzyna de Kosielsko, the Prince-Bishop of Krakow in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Rampolla was suspected, as there was ample evidence, of being a Freemason. Francis Joseph von Habsburg ...

See also:

Papal conclave 1903, Papal conclave 1903 - Background, Papal conclave 1903 - Favoured candidate vetoed by Francis Joseph of Austria, Papal conclave 1903 - Patriarch of Venice elected, Papal conclave 1903 - Veto abolished, Papal conclave 1903 - Conclave factfile

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