All Vatican elections

1939 Conclave

elected Pius XII

1–2 March 1939 · The modern conclaves · Sistine Chapel, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City

A conclave was held on 1 and 2 March 1939 to elect a new pope to succeed Pius XI, who had died on 10 February. All 62 members of the College of Cardinals attended.

Elected pope

Pius XII

Eugenio Pacelli

Succeeded

Pius XI

Duration

2 days

3 ballots

Cardinal electors

62

locked in under conclave rules

Key officials

DeanGennaro di Belmonte
CamerlengoEugenio Pacelli

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.