Papal conclave

A gathering of the Catholic Church’s cardinal electors held to choose a new pope. Voting continues in the Sistine Chapel until a candidate receives the required majority.

Cardinal elector: A cardinal under age 80 when a papacy becomes vacant, eligible to vote in a papal election. Only eligible cardinal electors take part in the conclave’s ballots.
Papal election: The process by which the Catholic Church selects a new pope. The conclave is the present-day form of papal election.
Gregory X: Pope from 1271 to 1276 who promulgated the constitution Ubi periculum. His response to the lengthy Viterbo election helped formalize conclave procedures.
Papal resignation: A pope’s voluntary relinquishment of the papal office. A resignation, like a death, makes the papacy vacant and can trigger a conclave.
Apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis: The 1996 apostolic constitution that sets rules for a papal vacancy and conclave. It establishes the procedures governing modern conclaves.
Papal conclave of 1274: The papal election held at Viterbo in 1274, after which the Second Council of Lyon regulated conclaves. Its reforms helped establish the institution’s defining procedures.
John Paul II: Pope from 1978 to 2005 who issued the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis. His constitution remains the principal framework for modern conclaves.
Papal interregnum: The period between the end of one papacy and the beginning of the next. A conclave takes place within this interval, not during an active papacy.
Sistine Chapel: A chapel in Vatican City whose frescoed interior includes Michelangelo’s ceiling and Last Judgment. Cardinal electors cast their ballots there under conclave rules.
Second Council of Lyon: A church council held in 1274 that addressed church governance and relations with the Eastern Church. It adopted rules intended to prevent prolonged papal elections.

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