The papal conclave of 1958 was convened to elect a

pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

, the leader of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, to succeed

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

following his death on 9 October 1958. Of the 54 members of the

College of Cardinals The College of Cardinals (), also called the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. there are cardinals, of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Appointed by the pope, ...

at the time of Pius XII's death, 51 participated in the subsequent conclave. Of the 51 attending electors, 6 were

cardinal bishop A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. C ...

s, 43 were

cardinal priest A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Ca ...

s, and 2 were

cardinal deacon A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. C ...

s; 13 had been created cardinals by

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...

and 38 by Pope Pius XII; 12 worked in the service of the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

(such as in the

Roman Curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...

) and 39 were in pastoral ministry outside Rome. The oldest cardinal elector in the conclave was

Georges Grente Georges-François-Xavier-Marie Grente (5 May 1872 – 5 May 1959) was a French Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Le Mans from 1918 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1953 by Pope Pius XII. Bi ...

, at the age of 86, and the youngest was

Giuseppe Siri Giuseppe Siri (20 May 1906 – 2 May 1989) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Genoa from 1946 to 1987, and was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1953. A protege of Pope Pius XII, he took part in the Seco ...

, at the age of 52. The cardinal electors entered the

Sistine Chapel The Sistine Chapel ( ; ; ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the pope's official residence in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), it takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who had it built between 1473 and ...

to begin the conclave on 25 October 1958. On 28 October, after eleven ballots over four days, they elected Cardinal Angelo Roncalli, the

patriarch of Venice The Patriarch of Venice (; ) is the ordinary of the Patriarchate of Venice. The bishop is one of only four patriarchs in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. The other three are the Patriarch of Lisbon, the Patriarch of the East Indies an ...

, who took the

papal name A papal name or pontifical name is the regnal name taken by a pope. Both the head of the Catholic Church, usually known as the pope, and the pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria (Coptic pope) choose papal names. , Leo XIV is the C ...

John XXIII.

Cardinal electors

The data below are as of 9 October 1958, the date on which the Holy See became vacant. Cardinals belonging to

institutes of consecrated life An institute of consecrated life is an association of faithful in the Catholic Church canonically erected by competent church authorities to enable men or women who publicly profess the evangelical counsels by religious vows or other sacred bon ...

or to

societies of apostolic life A society of apostolic life is a group of men or women within the Catholic Church who have come together for a specific purpose and live fraternally. It is regarded as a form of Consecrated life, consecrated (or "religious") life. This typ ...

are indicated by the relevant

post-nominal letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters, or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, an academic degree, accreditation ...

Not in attendance

Cardinal electors by continent and country

The 51 attending cardinal electors were from 20 countries. The countries with the greatest number of cardinal electors were

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

(seventeen),

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(six), and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

(four).

References

Conclave of October 25 - 28, 1958
{{Papal conclaves 1800-2005, state=collapsed Pope John XXIII

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...