Pontiff lies in state in St. Peter’s Basilica for 3 days ahead of funeral
While many of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics will be mourning the death of Pope Francis today, some are also looking ahead to the key and secretive meeting to choose his successor.
Conclaves have been used for about eight centuries to elect a new pope, and early meetings could last months, even years. The longest in modern times was in 1831 and lasted 54 days before Gregory XVI was elected.
More recently cardinal electors have chosen new popes in a much speedier manner. Francis himself was elected after just over 24 hours, or five ballots, and the conclave that elected Pope Benedict, his predecessor, lasted barely 24 hours.
- 1903 Pius X: 4 days, 7 ballots
- 1914 Benedict XV: 3 days, 10 ballots
- 1922 Pius XI: 5 days, 14 ballots
- 1939 Pius XII: 2 days, 3 ballots
- 1958 John XXIII: 4 days, 11 ballots
- 1963 Paul VI: 3 days, 6 ballots
- 1978 John Paul I: 2 days, 4 ballots
- 1978 John Paul II: 3 days, 8 ballots
- 2005 Benedict XVI: 2 days, 4 ballots
- 2013 Francis: 2 days, 5 ballots
The first conclave saw the drawn out election of Celestine IV in 1241, when cardinals were locked up in a palace. It still took them 60 days to reach a two-thirds majority. This established the precedent of the electoral conclave.
The longest conclave: The election of Pope Gregory X in 1271 lasted almost three years (two years, nine months and two days).
John XXII was elected in 1316 after a conclave lasting over two years, aged 72.
The 1241 conclave took 70 days. The leading candidate died during the discussions before Celestine IV was elected.
The last time a conclave lasted a single day (one ballot) was the election of Gregory XIII in 1572.
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