All Vatican elections

1922 Conclave

elected Pius XI

2–6 February 1922 · The modern conclaves · Sistine Chapel, Apostolic Palace, Kingdom of Italy

A conclave was held from 2 to 6 February 1922 to elect a new pope to succeed Benedict XV, who had died on 22 January. Of the 60 members of the College of Cardinals, all but seven attended.

Elected pope

Pius XI

Achille Ratti

Succeeded

Benedict XV

Duration

5 days

14 ballots

Cardinal electors

53

locked in under conclave rules

Key officials

DeanVincenzo Vannutelli
CamerlengoPietro Gasparri

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.