All Vatican elections

1830–1831 Conclave

elected Gregory XVI

14 December 1830 – 2 February 1831 · The long nineteenth century · Quirinal Palace, Papal States

A conclave was held from 14 December 1830 to 2 February 1831 to elect a new pope to succeed Pius VIII, who had died on 30 November. Of the 45 members of the College of Cardinals, all but nine attended.

Elected pope

Gregory XVI

Bartolomeo Cappellari

Succeeded

Pius VIII

Duration

51 days

83 ballots

Cardinal electors

45

locked in under conclave rules

Key officials

DeanBartolomeo Pacca
CamerlengoPietro Francesco Galleffi

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.