All Vatican elections

1963 Conclave

elected Paul VI

19–21 June 1963 · The modern conclaves · Sistine Chapel, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City

A conclave was held from 19 to 21 June 1963 to elect a new pope to succeed John XXIII, who had died on 3 June 1963. It was the last conclave before the introduction of the current 80-year-old age limit for cardinal electors in 1970, and of the 82 members of the College of Cardinals, all but two attended.

Elected pope

Paul VI

Giovanni Montini

Succeeded

John XXIII

Duration

3 days

6 ballots

Cardinal electors

80

locked in under conclave rules

Key officials

DeanEugène Tisserant
CamerlengoBenedetto Aloisi Masella

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.