All Vatican elections

2013 Conclave

elected Francis

12–13 March 2013 · The modern conclaves · Sistine Chapel, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City

A conclave was held on 12 and 13 March 2013 to elect a new pope to succeed Benedict XVI, who had resigned on 28 February 2013. Of the 117 eligible cardinal electors, all but two attended.

Elected pope

Francis

Jorge Mario Bergoglio

Succeeded

Benedict XVI

Duration

2 days

5 ballots

Cardinal electors

115

locked in under conclave rules

Key officials

DeanAngelo Sodano
CamerlengoTarcisio Bertone

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.