All Vatican elections

1823 Conclave

elected Leo XII

2–28 September 1823 · The long nineteenth century · Quirinal Palace, Papal States

A papal conclave was held from 2 to 28 September 1823 to elect a new pope to succeed Pius VII, who had died on 20 August. Of the 49 members of the College of Cardinals, all but four attended.

Elected pope

Leo XII

Annibale della Genga

Succeeded

Pius VII

Duration

27 days

Cardinal electors

49

locked in under conclave rules

Key officials

DeanGiulio Maria della Somaglia
CamerlengoBartolomeo Pacca

Ballot-by-ballot tallies are destroyed by design — the paper is burned in the stove whose smoke announces the result — so this entry records what the Church documents: the dates, the electors, the number of ballots where known, and the man who walked out onto the balcony.