1829 conclave

A papal conclave was held from 24 February to 31 March 1829 to elect a new pope to succeed Leo XII, who had died on 10 February. Of the 50 eligible cardinal electors, all but eight attended. On the final ballot, the conclave elected Cardinal Francesco Castiglioni, the prefect of the Congregation of the Index. After accepting his election, he took the name Pius VIII.

Papal conclave February–March 1829
Dates and location
24 February – 31 March 1829 Quirinal Palace, Papal States
Key officials
Dean	Giulio Maria della Somaglia
Sub-dean	Bartolomeo Pacca
Camerlengo	Pietro Francesco Galleffi
Protopriest	Giuseppe Firrao Jr.
Protodeacon	Giuseppe Albani
Secretary	Paolo Polidori
Election
Electors	50 (8 absentees)
Candidates	Emmanuele de Gregorio Bartolomeo Pacca
Vetoed	Bartolomeo Pacca
Elected pope
Francesco Castiglioni Name taken: Pius VIII
← 1823 1830–31 →

It took a long time for the conclave to elect a new pope due to conflict between secular governments concerning who should be elected. Cardinal Emmanuele De Gregorio was the proposed candidate of the pro-French faction and the zelanti (conservative cardinals), whilst Cardinal Bartolomeo Pacca was proposed by the more moderate cardinals, but he was not accepted by the French government of the Bourbon Restoration, headed by King Charles X and Prime Minister Jean Baptiste Gay. Pacca was also seen by many in the conclave as being too gentle to be an effective pope.

Description

The conclave did not move rapidly. The arrival of Giuseppe Albani caused the votes to center on Francesco Saverio Castiglioni. With the supporters of both De Gregorio and of Pacca unable to secure enough votes to elect their candidate to the papacy, Castiglioni came to be seen as a suitable compromise candidate. Castiglioni had been close to election in the 1823 conclave as the representative of the politicanti (moderate cardinals) and had all the qualifications to become pope, though he had the problem of being in very poor health, but was not elected at the last conclave when the zelanti cardinals realized that he was quite close to Cardinal Ercole Consalvi.^[1][2] Consalvi however was already dead by the time of the 1829 conclave having died during the pontificate of Pope Leo XII.

On 31 March, Cardinal Castiglioni was elected pope. Given that Castiglioni had been called Pius VIII by Pius VII even before his death in 1823,^[2] and that Leo XII had said that Castiglioni "some day was to be Pius VIII" in the 1823 conclave,^[1] it was therefore a foregone conclusion that he would take that papal name upon becoming pope.

Cardinal electors by region

Region	Number
Italy	41
Rest of Europe	9
North America	0
South America	0
Asia	0
Oceania	0
Africa	0
Total	50