With concerns ranging from modern bugging devices to whether cardinals will get a good night's sleep, Pope John Paul II has changed some of the rules for electing his successor.
But the new rulebook, made public Friday by the Vatican, does not change most of the centuries-old tradition surrounding the elaborate ceremony of papal con-claves, or elections.John Paul also decided to keep some of the more modern revisions, including one introduced by Pope Paul VI limiting participants to no more than 120 cardinals, who must be younger than 80.
In his "Apostolic Constitution," John Paul did not suggest that he thought a papal election, which follows the death or resignation of a pope, might be at hand.
The pope turns 76 in May, and has been plagued with medical problems.
His health had "nothing to do with it," said Monsignor Jorge Maria Mejia, an Argentine prelate who is secretary of the College of Cardinals.
During his papacy, John Paul has embraced modern technology with gusto. Vatican documents are now available on the Internet.
But the revised rulebook reveals a John Paul worried about the perils modern technology can pose for the secrecy surrounding papal elections.
In the new rules, John Paul decrees that "two trustworthy technicians" check out the Sistine Chapel to make sure no hidden recording devices have been installed in the chamber.
He reminded the faithful that the penalty for violating the strict secrecy of a papal election is excommunication.
Everything from cellular telephones to highly sensitive sound recording devices could pose a danger, Mejia said.
Those assisting in the conclave - from cooks to maids - must also "swear to refrain from using any audio or video equipment capable of recording anything which takes place during the period of the election," John Paul wrote.
Elections will continue to be held in the Sistine Chapel, under the frescoed ceiling of Michelangelo, "where everything is conducive to an awareness of the presence of God."
But John Paul, who has sat through two conclaves - the 1978 election of John Paul I and his own election two months later - decided the cardinals should have more comfortable quarters and more privacy in a new residence within Vatican City's walls.
Up to now, some cardinals participating in elections have slept in improvised bedrooms in such places as the modern art wing of the Vatican Museums.
Under John Paul's rules, the only way of choosing the pope will be secret paper balloting, with a two-thirds majority mandatory. If the cardinals repeatedly deadlock over several days, an absolute majority - one more than 50 percent - will be enough.
But cardinals will no longer be able to choose a new pontiff by acclamation, in which electors unanimously proclaim one name as their choice without voting, presumably divinely inspired.
That ancient method, the pope writes, "is no longer an apt means of interpreting the thought of an electoral college so great in number and so diverse in origin."