For centuries in the Roman Catholic Church, when cardinals gathered at the Vatican to select a new pope, their living quarters consisted mostly of cubbyholes near the Sistine Chapel -- cramped rooms, hallways and spaces under stairs where the prelates slept on iron cots. The makeshift rooms in the Apostolic Palace provided no running water. The cardinals -- almost all men older than 60 -- shared one bathroom for every five or six electors. Blankets were draped between cots for privacy. The College of Cardinals that convenes today in Vatican City will operate under guidelines that still call for a near-monastic existence, but for the first time in the history of papal conclaves, living arrangements will be significantly more comfortable. The 115 cardinals taking part in the intensely secretive session now have a place to hang their scarlet cassocks: Thanks in large part to a Pittsburgh benefactor, they will reside in a hotel-like residence with private suites and rooms, including bathrooms with modern showers. John E. Connelly, a well-known Pittsburgh businessman and philanthropist, paid much of the construction costs for the Domus Sanctae Marthae, or St. Martha's House. The Gateway Clipper Fleet tycoon considers his role in the project one of his life's most gratifying deeds. "It fills my heart to know that I've left something on this earth of goodness, something worthwhile," said Connelly, 79, an Indiana Township resident and member of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church there. "I'm very proud that I made it possible for them to have a place to stay and be comfortable and a place to pray in the chapel before they go vote." The $20 million, five-story structure was built in the mid-1990s to house visiting cardinals, bishops and dignitaries, particularly in anticipation of a conclave to elect a successor for Pope John Paul II. The pope died April 2. During a trip to Rome in the early 1990s, Connelly learned about the Vatican's plan to expand accommodations for visiting prelates. An official told him "the cardinals had to sleep in the hallways of the Vatican. They were old men, and some of them had to walk long distances to go to the bathroom at night. They wanted to build a place for them," he recalled. "I said I had the money, and I had the Catholicism in my heart, and I would do it. That's how it started." Connelly engaged Pittsburgh architect Louis D. Astorino, who became an adviser on the project and later the architect for the adjacent Chapel of the Holy Spirit. Astorino consulted on various aspects of the interior of the Domus Sanctae Marthae. One of his ideas incorporated into the building was for the bathrooms, which Astorino suggested should include separate American-style showers and tubs as opposed to the narrow, steep-walled bathtubs with attached shower heads common in European designs. "It's something you typically don't see in Europe. It's gone over well," Astorino said. The residence, a pale yellow structure with marble-trimmed windows, includes 106 suites and 22 single rooms, each with a private bathroom. It was completed in 1996. The Vatican released a videotape last week to give the world a glimpse of where the cardinals will live during the conclave. The video showed a reception area with marble floors, a sitting area with brown upholstered sofas and a few plants, stark hallways with lighting from sconces on the walls and a modern chapel. The one bedroom shown in the video -- apparently one of the larger suites -- had a wooden floor and was furnished with antiques. The rooms normally have television sets, but those have been removed for the conclave. The cardinals are blocked from outside communications, including TV and radio. The new residence is air-conditioned and heated. A ground-floor dining hall is furnished with round tables that seat six or eight, with fruit bowls as centerpieces. The cardinals will take five-minute shuttle bus rides from Domus Sanctae Marthae -- on the western side of Vatican City -- to the Sistine Chapel. Connelly said he donated about $12 million for the project, although he wasn't sure of the total. The Vatican paid the balance. "I didn't really keep track of it. I just paid the bills as they came in -- the actual building of it, the bricks, the marble, the windows, fixtures for the bathrooms," he said. "There was no capital campaign. I didn't ask anybody for a dime." John Paul personally thanked him for his contributions, Connelly said. "Just to meet him was awesome." At the time, Connelly was worth about $400 million, landing him a spot on Forbes Magazine's list of richest Americans. A Pittsburgh native, he built a fortune with ventures such as the Gateway Clipper Fleet, the riverboat excursion business he launched here in 1958. The idea burgeoned into riverboat fleets throughout the U.S. As chairman of J. Edward Connelly Associates Inc., his enterprises include the Sheraton hotel at Station Square, hotels, resorts and riverboat casinos in Iowa, Missouri and Mississippi. Another division of the company, Treasures Inc., once held exclusive rights from the Vatican to distribute and market replica artifacts and reproductions of artwork housed in Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel. Connelly also is chairman of President Casinos Inc. When the company went public in 1992, its stock initially soared. Rough financial sailing later in the decade led the company to default on $100 million in bonds in 2000. In June 2002, President Casinos filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

---

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

---