papal conclave A conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to appoint the pope of the Catholic Church. Catholics consider the pope to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and the earthly head of the Catholic Church. Concerns around ...

was held from 24 February to 31 March 1829 to elect a new

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 ...

to succeed Leo XII, who had died on 10 February. Of the 50 eligible cardinal electors, all but eight attended. On the final ballot, the conclave elected Cardinal Francesco Castiglioni, the prefect of the Congregation of the Index. After accepting his election, he took the name ''Pius VIII''. 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 was the proposed candidate of the pro-French faction and the ''

zelanti In Roman Catholicism, the expression ''zelanti'' has been applied to conservative members of the clergy and their lay supporters since the thirteenth century. Its specific connotations have shifted with each reapplication of the label. The Latina ...

'' (conservative cardinals), whilst Cardinal

Bartolomeo Pacca Bartolomeo Pacca (27 December 1756, Benevento – 19 April 1844, Rome) 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 proposed by the more moderate cardinals, but he was not accepted by the French government of the Bourbon Restoration, headed by King

Charles X Charles X may refer to: * Charles X of France (1757–1836) * Charles X Gustav (1622–1660), King of Sweden * Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon (1523–1590), recognized as Charles X of France but renounced the royal title See also * * King Charle ...

and Prime Minister Jean Baptiste Gay. 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 realized that he was quite close to Cardinal

Ercole Consalvi Ercole Consalvi (8 June 1757 – 24 January 1824) was a deacon and cardinal of the Catholic Church, who served twice as Cardinal Secretary of State for the Papal States and who played a crucial role in the post-Napoleonic reassertion of the legit ...

. Consalvi however was already dead by the time of the 1829 conclave having died during the pontificate of

Pope Leo XII Pope Leo 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 in February 1829. ...

. On 31 March, Cardinal Castiglioni was elected pope. Given that Castiglioni had been called ''Pius VIII'' by

Pius VII Pope Pius VII (; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823) was head of the Catholic Church from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. He ruled the Papal States from June 1800 to 17 May 1809 and again ...

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

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 ...

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. * Marc ...

1829 elections 1829 elections in Europe 19th-century Catholicism 1829 in Christianity February 1829 Charles X of France