Papal Conclave, 1963
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A
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 19 to 21 June 1963 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
John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...
, who had died on 3 June 1963. Of the 82 eligible cardinal electors, all but two attended. On the sixth ballot, the conclave elected Cardinal Giovanni Montini, the archbishop of Milan. After accepting his election, he took the name ''Paul VI''. His coronation on 30 June 1963 was the latest
papal coronation A papal coronation was the formal ceremony of the placing of the papal tiara on a newly elected pope. The first recorded papal coronation was of Pope Nicholas I in 858. The most recent was the 1963 coronation of Paul VI, who soon afterwards aba ...
to date.


''Papabili''

John XXIII's death left the future of the
Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...
in the balance, since the election of an anti-Council pope could have severely curbed the Council's role. The leading ''
papabile ( , , ; plural: ; ) is an unofficial Italian term coined by Vaticanologists and used internationally in many languages to describe a Catholic man—in practice, always a cardinal—who is thought of as a likely or possible candidate to be ...
'' candidates were Giovanni Montini of
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
, who had not been a cardinal at the previous conclave and was supportive of the reforms proposed at the Council; Giacomo Lercaro of
Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
, who was considered a liberal, close to John XXIII; and Giuseppe Siri of
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, ''
papabile ( , , ; plural: ; ) is an unofficial Italian term coined by Vaticanologists and used internationally in many languages to describe a Catholic man—in practice, always a cardinal—who is thought of as a likely or possible candidate to be ...
'' in 1958 and critical of these reforms. Gregorio Pietro Agagianian, the former Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia was also thought to be ''papabile''. Reportedly, John XXIII had sent oblique signals indicating that he thought Montini would make a fine pope.


Participants

The 1963 papal conclave, which met from 19 to 21 June, at 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 ...
in Vatican City, was the largest yet assembled. There were 82 cardinal electors eligible to participate. The only two who did not were Cardinal József Mindszenty, who refused to leave the U.S. Legation in
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where he had lived since 1956 unless the Hungarian government met his demands for religious freedom in Hungary, and Cardinal Carlos María de la Torre of Quito, Ecuador, who was 89 years old and could not make the journey because he had suffered a stroke the previous December and was bedridden with thrombosis. Of the eighty cardinals who did participate, eight had been elevated 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 ...
, twenty-seven by Pius XII, and the other 45 by John XXIII. Each cardinal elector was allowed one aide. They came from 29 countries, compared to 51 from 21 countries in the conclave of 1958 and 59 from 16 countries in 1939. The Italians were outnumbered 51 to 29.


Balloting

Under the latest rules, election required the votes of two-thirds of those voting, in this case 54. No ballots were taken on the first day, then two each morning and two each afternoon. Because there had been confusion at the last conclave in 1958 over the color of the smoke used to indicate whether a pope had been elected, the smoke would be supplemented with electric lights. The results of the first four ballots were signaled with black smoke on 20 June at 11:54am and 5:47pm. Each time, the smoke appeared white at first. Some reform-minded cardinals initially voted for Leo Joseph Suenens of Mechelen-Brussels and Franz König of
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
to make the point that the pope does not have to be Italian. Other reports said that conservative cardinals attempted to block Montini's election in the early balloting. Due to the apparent deadlock, Cardinal Montini proposed to withdraw himself from being considered but was silenced by Giovanni Urbani the Patriarch of Venice.Pham, John-Peter. "Heirs of the Fisherman: Behind the Scenes of Papal Death and Succession". Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 123–4 Another cardinal, Gustavo Testa, an old friend of John XXIII, lost his temper in the Chapel and demanded that the intransigents stop impeding Montini's path. By the fourth ballot on 20 June, according to ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine, Montini needed only four more votes to obtain the required number of votes. He was elected on the fifth ballot on the morning of 21 June. When asked by
Eugène Tisserant Eugène-Gabriel-Gervais-Laurent Tisserant (; 24 March 1884 – 21 February 1972) was a French prelate and cardinal of the Catholic Church. Elevated to the cardinalate in 1936, Tisserant was a prominent and long-time member of the Roman Curia. ...
whether he accepted his election, Montini replied, "" ("I accept, in the name of the Lord") and chose the name ''Paul VI''. At 11:22 am, white smoke rose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, signifying the election of a new pope. Alfredo Ottaviani, in his capacity as the senior cardinal deacon, announced Montini's election in
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
. Before Ottaviani had even finished saying Montini's name, the crowd beneath the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica erupted into applause. Pope Paul VI appeared on the balcony shortly afterwards to give his first blessing. On this occasion, Paul VI chose not to give the traditional '' Urbi et Orbi'' blessing but instead imparted the shorter episcopal blessing as his first
apostolic blessing The apostolic blessing or papal blessing is a blessing imparted by the pope, either directly or by delegation through others. Bishops are empowered to grant it three times a year and any priest can do so for the dying. The apostolic blessing is n ...
.


See also

* Cardinal electors in the 1963 papal conclave


References


External links

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