Papal conclave, 1878
Coat of arms during the vacancy of the Holy See
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| Dates and location | |
|---|---|
| 18–20 February 1878 Sistine Chapel, Apostolic Palace, Rome |
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| Key officials | |
| Dean | Luigi Amat di San Filippo e Sorso |
| Sub-Dean | Camillo di Pietro |
| Camerlengo | Gioacchino Pecci |
| Protopriest | Josef Friedrich von Schwarzenberg |
| Protodeacon | Prospero Caterini |
| Election | |
| Ballots | 3 |
| Elected Pope | |
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Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci (Name taken: Leo XIII) |
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The Papal conclave of 1878 resulted from the death of Pope Pius IX in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican on 7 February 1878. The conclave occurred in circumstances different from those of any previous conclave.
The unique circumstances were
When the cardinals assembled, they faced a dilemma. Should they choose a pope who would continue to espouse Pius IX's reactionary religious and political views, and would continue to refuse to accept Italy's Law of Guarantees guaranteeing the pope religious liberty in the Kingdom of Italy? Or should they turn away from the policies of Pius IX and choose a more liberal pope who could work for reconciliation with the King of Italy? Would choosing such a policy be seen as a betrayal of Pius IX, the self-proclaimed "Prisoner in the Vatican"?
Other broader issues included
Though not explicitly spelt out, another issue was raised by the length of Pope Pius' reign. Should they elect another young pope who might reign for decades, or should they go for an older man and so a shorter reign?
With what many Churchmen believed was the "unstable" and "anti-Catholic" situation in a Rome that was no longer controlled by the Church, some cardinals, notably Cardinal Manning, Archbishop of Westminster, urged that the conclave be moved outside Rome, perhaps even to Malta. However the Camerlengo, Gioachino Pecci, advocated otherwise, and an initial vote among cardinals to move to Spain was overturned in a later vote. The conclave finally assembled in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican on 18 February 1878.
Going into the conclave, Cardinal Pecci was the one candidate favored to be elected in part because many of the cardinals who headed to Rome had already decided to elect him. In addition to Pecci's competent administration as Camerlengo during the sede vacante period up to the conclave, Pecci was seen as the opposite of Pope Pius IX in terms of manner and temperament and also had a successful diplomatic career prior to being Archbishop of Perugia. Pecci's election was also facilitated in that the candidate favored by the conservatives Alessandro Franchi urged his supporters to switch their support to the Camerlengo.
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