Jan Maurycy Paweł Cardinal Puzyna de Kosielsko

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His Eminence Prince Jan Maurycy Paweł Cardinal Puzyna de Kosielsko (born September 13, 1842 in Gwoździec, Galicia – died September 8, 1911 in Kraków) was a Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of Lwów (now L'viv, Ukraine) 1886-1895 and a bishop of Kraków (now in Poland) 1895-1911. Elevated to cardinal in 1901, he was known for his conservative views and authoritarianism.

During the conclave of 1903 he presented an exclusive veto against the election of Mariano Cardinal Rampolla del Tindaro. Puzyna wanted to avoid the election of Rampolla, who was sympathetic to Russia and Germany. Among other things, Rampolla sought to curry favor with Russia by abolishing the Polish language and instituting Russian in the Russian partition's Catholic churches. Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria, too, did not wish to see Rampolla elected to the Chair of Peter. He held a grudge against Rampolla for opposing a proper burial for his son Rudolf upon Rudolf's suicide. Rampolla also openly supported political forces in Austria that were hostile to the Emperor.

On his way to the conclave, Puzyna met in Vienna with the Emperor and proposed that the Emperor presented his veto against Cardinal Rampolla. The Emperor subscribed to the idea, and Puzyna presented the veto on the third day of the conclave. It was the last time such a veto was used. The veto, that was already not recognized by the Church's law and as such non binding, still carried much political weight, as the Cardinals feared opposing the manifest will of one of the Christian monarchs. The civil veto was abolished by the newly elected Pope Pius X, who imposed the penalty of excomunication upon anyone that would dare to introduce a veto or otherwise interfere in the election of the Roman Pontiff. Pope Pius X further decreed that all Cardinals should take an oath upon the beginning of the conclave, promising not to aid any civil power in an attempt to influence the election of the Supreme Pontiff.