IN PECTORE. — The *reservatio in pectore* (i. p.) is a special form of election to the dignity of cardinal, distinct from the ordinary method, which consists in the creation and public announcement of the name of the elected in a Consistory (can. 233).
The exception lies in the fact that the Supreme Pontiff announces in the Consistory the creation of an ecclesiastic, who must at least possess the dignity of priest, as a cardinal, without however publishing his name, which he keeps secret. The person thus elected enjoys no privileges or rights until his name is published; upon publication, the appointment to the cardinalate is considered to have taken place from the day of the *reservatio in pectore* (can. 233 § 2).
The first pope to create cardinals without publishing their names was Martin V. BIBLICA.: J. P. Kirsch, *Die reservatio i. p. bei der Cardinali-creation*, in *Archiv für kathol. Kirchenrecht*, 81 (1901), pp. 421 ff.; Wernz-Vidal, II, p. 548; S. Romani, *Institutiones iuris canonici*, I, Rome 1941, p. 214; I. Chedel-P. Cipriotti, *Insufficientia muneris del personis*, Vicenza-Trento 1942, p. 252.