Ballot papers in a conclave are supposed to be burnt as soon as they are counted. But next month, one of them, from the 1903 election of Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto as Pope Pius X, is going up for auction in London. The unique item belonged to Cardinal Domenico Svampa, who is believed to have retained it as proof of his loyalty to Sarto. The front-runner in the conclave had been Cardinal Mariano Rampolla, but the Emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph I, used a veto then belonging to Catholic monarchs to block his election.Cardinal Svampa had all along voted for Sarto, despite the intervention of the emperor, and also offered in the lot is a note that makes clear how he voted (a shrewd political move, given the result). The items are being put up for sale by the family of journalist Pietro Solari,