Girolamo Maria Cardinal Gotti
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Girolamo Maria Cardinal Gotti, O.C.D. (born Giovanni Antonio Benedetto Gotti March 29, 1834, Genoa, Italy; died March 19, 1916, Rome, Italy), sometimes erroneously called Giuseppe Gotti, was a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.
Gotti was papabile at the 1903 papal conclave, when he was generally believed to be the most likely opponent of Pope Leo XIII's Secretary of State Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro. Although Gotti did prove to be Rampolla's main challenger in the first four ballots, eventually Giuseppe Cardinal Sarto was elected after seven ballots as Pope Pius X. It is noteworthy that there has never been a Carmelite Pope: indeed Gotti is the only Carmelite cardinal to have been a serious candidate for the papacy since the order was founded around eight centuries ago.
Gotti entered the Order of Discalced Carmelites in 1850 and, after his profession as a religious a year later, completed his studies for the priesthood by 1856. In the following decades Gotti was a lector of philosophy and theology in the local monastery. So able and versatile was he, though, that he also taught mathematics at the local naval academy during this period. He was already regarded as a tireless student and scholar, as well as being an ascetic who, despite the influence he was having, would always sleep on the floor.
At the First Vatican Council in 1870 Gotti was advisor to the superior-general of his order and by 1881 he had become superior general himself (he was to retain this position until 1897). He became a counsellor to several curial congregations in Rome during the 1880s and was also Apostolic Examiner of the Roman Clergy during this decade. In 1892 Gotti became titular Archbishop of Petra and at the consistory of November 29, 1895 he was elevated to Cardinal by Pope Leo.
Gotti became Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops (then known as the Congregation for Bishops and Regulars) in 1896 but was transferred to the Congregation for Evangelisation of Peoples (Propaganda Fide) - where most of his curial experience had been concentrated - three years later. His reputation for piety and learning being undiminished meant that when the seemingly ageless Leo XIII finally seemed in declining health, Gotti was often mentioned as a likely successor even though he was seen as a very different man (much more deeply pious and ascetic) from Pope Leo.
In the 1903 conclave, when it became clear Rampolla had too many opponents to be able to gain the necessary 42 votes for election, his supporters turned to Cardinal Sarto rather than Gotti, so that Gotti was not to be elected Pope even though some critics who, noting opposition to Rampolla just before Leo's death, had said he was likely to win.
Under Pius X, Cardinal Gotti continued in his role as Prefect of Propaganda Fide until his death in 1916. Although he participated in the 1914 conclave, Gotti, at eighty years of age, was clearly far too old to have another chance of becoming Pope and was never considered papabile.
