Giuseppe Siri conspiracy theory

On 25 October 1958, the papal conclave to elect a successor to Pope Pius XII commenced. The staunchly conservative Cardinal Siri, then 52 years old, was considered a strong candidate in the election. At 11:53a.m. on 26 October 1958, the first day of balloting, white smoke was seen coming from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, a traditional signal to the crowds in the square outside that a pope has been elected. It was followed after a few minutes by black smoke. The Italian radio network and the Italian news agency had to retract their initial reports that a pope had been elected. At 5:53p.m., white smoke again appeared to come from the chimney, and this time it did not quickly turn black. At 6p.m., after the smoke had continued white for several minutes, Vatican Radio told the world: "The smoke is white... There is absolutely no doubt. A Pope has been elected." After about half an hour, the smoke turned black, indicating that there was no result. Vatican Radio corrected its report. The New York Times reported: "The crowd lingered for more than a half hour, apparently hoping against hope that a new Pope would appear." The paper further reported that problems getting the straw to catch fire likely caused the morning’s problem and added: "The second signal was misunderstood because it came well after nightfall. The smoke was lighted from below by a spotlight, which made black appear white." On the afternoon of the next day, 28 October, white smoke signalled the election of a pope. On their eleventh ballot the conclave had elected Cardinal Angelo Roncalli, who took the name John XXIII. While considered a favourite for election before the conclave, Siri did not feature in the early voting, and ultimately was never in the running. He was thought too young at 52; a long pontificate would have been anticipated, and this was allegedly felt to be undesirable because a long pontificate would have prevented other cardinals who wanted to be elected pope from having the chance of being elected. == History of the theory ==

Sometime in the late 1980s, an American traditionalist Catholic named Gary Giuffré began to expound the belief that Siri was the true pope, and that he was being held against his will in Rome. That article made no mention of the 1958 conclave. In the 1990 non-fiction book The Keys of This Blood, Irish-American Catholic priest Malachi Martin claimed that in the 1963 conclave Siri received sufficient votes for election but refused it. According to Martin, the reason Siri refused the election was the belief it was the only method a "grave danger [could] be avoided—but whether harm to the Church, his family, or to him personally, is not clear". Martin also claimed Siri's supposed refusal followed a conversation on the subject of Siri's candidacy between a member of the conclave and somebody outside the conclave, who was "an emissary of an internationally based organisation". In a 1997 interview on the radio programme Steel on Steel, hosted by John Loefller, Martin claimed that Siri had also obtained a majority of votes in the August 1978 papal conclave but that he had received a written note after his election threatening him and his family with death should he accept. In his 2003 book The Vatican Exposed, Paul L. Williams claimed United States State Department documents confirmed Siri had been elected pope in 1958 as Gregory XVII. According to Williams, the election was quashed not by a Judeo-Masonic conspiracy but by fear of the Soviet Union. He argued that Roncalli was known as the "pink priest" because of his ties with both the French and Italian Communist parties, while Siri was "rabidly anti-Communist". Siri received the requisite number of votes on the third ballot and was elected as Gregory XVII but "the French cardinals annulled the results, claiming that the election would cause widespread riots and the assassination of several prominent bishops behind the Iron Curtain." It was then decided to elect Cardinal Federico Tedeschini but as he was too ill, Roncalli was elected instead. In subsequent editions, the references were changed to simply "F.B.I. source". ==Significance==

Traditionalist Catholics oppose the liturgical changes and perceived modernist theological positions resulting from the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), which many of them see as a heretical council. Sedevacantists are a minority group within traditionalist Catholicism who maintain that none of the popes from John XXIII (who called the council) onward were true popes, and that therefore the papal seat is vacant. The idea that John XXIII and Paul VI were not true popes is explained by the Siri theory. == See also ==