Popes Election

A papal conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a bishop of Rome, also known as the pope. Catholics consider the pope to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and the earthly head of the Catholic Church. It is the oldest historical method of electing a particular head of state (that is, for Vatican City) that remains in use to the present day. The current regulations governing papal conclaves were established by Pope John Paul II in his 1996 apostolic constitution Universi Dominici gregis. In its introduction, John Paul II noted: "A careful historical examination confirms both the appropriateness of this institution, given the circumstances in which it originated and gradually took definitive shape, and its continued usefulness for the orderly, expeditious and proper functioning of the election itself, especially in times of tension and upheaval." Concerns around political interference led to reforms after the interregnum of 1268–1271 and Pope Gregory X's decree during the Second Council of Lyons in 1274 that the cardinal electors should be locked in seclusion cum clave (Latin for 'with a key') and not permitted to leave until a new pope had been elected. Conclaves are now held in the Sistine Chapel of the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. Since the Apostolic Age, the bishop of Rome, like other bishops, has been chosen by the consensus of the clergy and laity of the diocese. The body of electors was more precisely defined when, in 1059, the College of Cardinals was designated the sole body of electors. Since then, other details of the process have developed. In 1970, Pope Paul VI limited the electors to cardinals under 80 years of age in Ingravescentem aetatem. The current procedures established by Pope John Paul II in Universi Dominici gregis were slightly amended in 2007 and 2013 by Pope Benedict XVI. A two-thirds supermajority vote is required to elect the new pope. The most recent papal conclave occurred in 2013, when Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as Pope Francis, succeeding the retiring Benedict XVI.