The 2170 papal conclave was convened to elect a pope to succeed Pope John Paul III following his resignation on 13 May 2170. The period of
sede vacante for the Holy See was typical of the age of colonization, with several of the extrasolar cardinal-electors needing in excess of a month of travel time to gather at the Vatican. Once the 147 participating cardinal-electors had gathered, they set 21 June 2170 as the beginning of the conclave. On the seventh ballot, the conclave elected Cardinal Inhaxiô Phòng Nguyễn Bao, SJ, Archbishop of Huế. He took the pontifical name of
Paul IX.
The 2170 papal conclave is notable for several reasons. Among them, Phòng is the first pope from Vietnam, and the third Jesuit to be elected to the papacy. The seven ballots needed to elected Phòng is the highest of the 22nd century, largely attributed to the tumultuous period of human history with ongoing colonial wars in the eastern Orion affecting high-numbers of extrasolar Catholics, and with the recent establishment of diplomatic relations with the gret, only the second sapient alien race (alongside the three ak polities) to have formal relations with the Alliance of Terran States. The conclave is also notable for the absences of three cardinal-electors, all from the outer colonies of the eastern Orion; of the three absences, only Cardinal Luis Gonsalves, Archbishop of Hard Landing, explicitly stated his absence was a "matter of conscience over the silence of the Catholic Church's Earthbound institutions on oppression of the people of Ashoka and the greater eastern Orion."
Only three months after his election, Pope Paul IX announced his intention to call a general council. Though some segments of the Catholic laity, and non-Catholics, were surprised, the announcement was expected by many members of the College of Cardinals, the Roman Curia, and other Church officials, as were the topics it was called to address. In his announcement, Paul IX called the existence of alien life "perhaps the most pressing new theological issue of the age, that has gone ignored too long."
Preparations for the Council began immediately, including transmitting the announcement to all colonies and space stations in Alliance space. The Fourth Vatican Ecumenical Council, commonly known as the Fourth Vatican Council or Vatican IV, addressed the theological issues surrounding sapient alien life. It formally opened on 15 August 2171, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the General Roman Calendar, and formally closed on 23 November 2175, the feast day of Saint Clement of Rome.
The Council involved over 3700 members of the Catholic clergy, and several interfaith observers also attended from all of humanity's major religions. According to the Paul IX, the most central message of Vatican IV was that sapient alien life were too made in the Image of God, thus part of His Creation, and it was the duty of the Church to spread the Word to sapient aliens.
In the wake of the closing of Vatican IV, Paul IX authored the second encyclical of his pontificate,
Creavit Deus Caelum (God created the heavens). In it, the pope explains the logic of alien life being God's Creation, and calls upon all Catholics, and the peoples on all human worlds, to extend the love of God to their alien brothers and sisters. It was published formally on 12 September 2176, the feast of Saint Julian the Hospitaller.
Creavit Deus Caelum was released by the Vatican in Latin, English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Tagalog, Hindi, and Arabic, along with the original Vietnamese; translations are available in most human languages, Ak Trade Creole, with a translation underway for Standard Besht, the interstellar gret lingua franca.
1. “In principio CREAVIT DEUS CAELUM et terram” – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”.
In the very first sentence of His Word, God tells us that all the universe, all its stars and planets and other wonders, and all life within it, is His Creation. All of the universe's cosmic majesty, and the miraculous and myriad forms of life that inhabit it, is the result of his boundless love and invention. It affirms that sapient life, whatever its form, as the Creation of God, is made in His image. - excerpt from Creavit Deus Caelum