The 1829 papal conclave to elect a successor to

Pope Leo XII Pope Leo XII ( it, Leone XII; born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiorre Girolamo Nicola della Genga (; 2 August 1760 – 10 February 1829), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 28 September 1823 to his death ...

after his death on 10 February 1829 began on 24 February 1829. It took a long time for the conclave to elect a new pope due to conflict between secular governments concerning who should be elected. Cardinal

Emmanuele De Gregorio Emmanuele de Gregorio (18 December 1758 – 7 November 1839) was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and son of Leopoldo de Gregorio, Marquis of Esquilache. Biography De Gregorio was born at sea while his mother was travelling t ...

was the proposed candidate of the pro-French faction and the '' zelanti'' (conservative cardinals), whilst Cardinal

Bartolomeo Pacca Bartolomeo Pacca (27 December 1756, Benevento – 19 April 1844) was an Italian cardinal, scholar, and statesman as Cardinal Secretary of State. Pacca served as apostolic nuncio to Cologne, and later to Lisbon. Biography Bartolomeo Pacca was ...

was proposed by the more moderate cardinals but was not accepted by the French government of the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * ...

period. At the time, France was governed by Charles X and Prime Minister Jean Baptiste Gay, vicomte de Martignac. Pacca was also seen by many in the conclave as being too gentle to be an effective pope.

Description

The conclave did not move rapidly. The arrival of Giuseppe Albani caused the votes to center on Francesco Saverio Castiglioni. With the supporters of both De Gregorio and of Pacca unable to secure enough votes to elect their candidate to the papacy, Castiglioni came to be seen as a suitable compromise candidate. Castiglioni had been close to election in the 1823 conclave as the representative of the ''politicanti'' (moderate cardinals) and had all the qualifications to become Pope, though he had the problem of being in very poor health, but was not elected at the last conclave when the ''zelanti'' Cardinals came to realize that he was quite close to Cardinal Ercole Consalvi. Consalvi however was already dead by the time of the 1829 conclave having died during the pontificate of

. On 31 March, Cardinal Castiglioni was elected pope. Given that Castiglioni had been called

Pius VIII Pope Pius VIII ( it, Pio VIII; born Francesco Saverio Maria Felice Castiglioni; 20 November 1761 – 30 November 1830), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 31 March 1829 to his death in November 1830. Pius VIII's ...

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...

even before his death in 1823, and that in the 1823 conclave Leo XII had said that Castiglioni "some day was to be Pius VIII", it was a foregone conclusion that he would take that regnal name upon becoming Pope.

References

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1829 Events January–March * January 19 – August Klingemann's adaptation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's ''Faust'' premieres in Braunschweig. * February 27 – Battle of Tarqui: Troops of Gran Colombia and Peru battle to a draw. * March ...

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