Pope Benedict XVI: The Conquest of Rome

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By Tuesday, Martini, who does not dislike Ratzinger personally, withdrew his candidacy and might have even thrown his support to him. Liberals who could not stomach that option reportedly swung over to Buenos Aires' Jesuit Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio in an anyone-but-Ratzinger move, though several sources said the Argentine was himself aligned with the German. But the second balloting saw Ratzinger reach 60 votes. By the third, he was just shy of the 77 required for the papacy. By the fourth, he had won 95 out of 115. Liberal stalwarts left grumbling. "A good conclave is one where there are at least two candidates deadlocked," says a liberal supporter disappointed by the process. "A bad conclave is where there's one dominant figure. That was the case this time."

The liberals were simply outorganized by the Curia. "The ease of Ratzinger's victory was proof of just how compact and well prepared the Roman nucleus was," a Cardinal elector told TIME. The conservatives could also say it was answered prayer and proof of the intervention of the Holy Spirit. In the Sistine Chapel, as the tally went over the required two-thirds, "there was a gasp all around," Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor of Britain recalled in a press conference. Ratzinger, he said, "had his head down. He must have been saying a prayer." When Jorge Cardinal Arturo Medina Estevez--who would announce the election to the world from the balcony of St. Peter's--asked Ratzinger what name he would assume, the Pontiff-elect did not hesitate. "In the past, there's been a wait while the new Pope pondered the question for 10 minutes or so," says an informed source. "Not so this time. Ratzinger replied right away, 'Benedict XVI.' He was prepared." --With reporting by Jordan Bonfante and Giancarlo Zizola/ Rome and Howard Chua-Eoan/ New York

Time.com

Pope Benedict XVI: The Conquest of Rome

The stealth campaign for Ratzinger began 18 months ago. An inside look at how he won