The papal conclave of 1958 was convened to elect a pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, to succeed Pope Pius XII following his death on 9 October 1958.
Of the 54 members of the College of Cardinals at the time of Pius XII's death, 51 participated in the subsequent conclave. Of the 51 attending electors, 6 were cardinal bishops, 43 were cardinal priests, and 2 were cardinal deacons; 13 had been created cardinals by Pope Pius XI and 38 by Pope Pius XII; 12 worked in the service of the Holy See (such as in the Roman Curia) and 39 were in pastoral ministry outside Rome. The oldest cardinal elector in the conclave was Georges Grente, at the age of 86, and the youngest was Giuseppe Siri, at the age of 52.
The cardinal electors entered the Sistine Chapel to begin the conclave on 25 October 1958. On 28 October, after eleven ballots over four days, they elected Cardinal Angelo Roncalli, the patriarch of Venice, who took the papal name John XXIII.
Cardinal electors The data below are as of 9 October 1958, the date on which the Holy See became vacant. Cardinals belonging to institutes of consecrated life or to societies of apostolic life are indicated by the relevant post-nominal letters.
Rank Name Country Born Order Consistory Office 1 Eugène Tisserant France (age ) CB Pius XI Prefect of the Congregation of Ceremonies, Librarian of the Vatican Library, Archivist of the Vatican Secret Archive (Dean) 2 Clemente Micara Italy (age ) CB Pius XII Vicar General of Rome (Vice-Dean) 3 Giuseppe Pizzardo Italy (age ) CB Pius XI Prefect of the Congregation of Seminaries and Universities 4 Benedetto Aloisi Masella Italy (age ) CB Pius XII Prefect of the Congregation of the Discipline of the Sacraments, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church 5 Federico Tedeschini Italy (age ) CB Pius XI Datary of the Apostolic Dataria 6 Marcello Mimmi Italy (age ) CB Pius XII Secretary of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation 7 Jozef-Ernest van Roey Belgium (age ) CP Pius XI Archbishop of Mechelen–Brussels 8 Manuel Gonçalves Cerejeira Portugal (age ) CP Pius XI Patriarch of Lisbon 9 Achille Liénart France (age ) CP Pius XI Bishop of Lille 10 Pietro Fumasoni Biondi Italy (age ) CP Pius XI Prefect of the Congregation for Propagation of the Faith 11 Maurilio Fossati Italy (age ) CP Pius XI Archbishop of Turin 12 Elia Dalla Costa Italy (age ) CP Pius XI Archbishop of Florence 13 Ignatius Gabriel I Tappouni Lebanon (age ) CP Pius XI Syriac Patriarch of Antioch 14 Santiago Copello Argentina (age ) CP Pius XI Archbishop of Buenos Aires 15 Pierre-Marie Gerlier France (age ) CP Pius XI Archbishop of Lyon 16 Gregorio Pietro Agagianian Lebanon (age ) CP Pius XII Armenian Patriarch of Cilicia 17 James McGuigan Canada (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Toronto 18 Clément Roques France (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Rennes 19 Carlos Carmelo Vasconcellos Motta Brazil (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of São Paulo 20 Norman Gilroy Australia (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Sydney 21 Francis Spellman United States (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of New York 22 José María Caro Rodríguez Chile (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Santiago de Chile 23 Teodósio de Gouveia Mozambique (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Lourenço Marques 24 Jaime de Barros Câmara Brazil (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro 25 Enrique Pla y Deniel Spain (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Toledo 26 Manuel Arteaga y Betancourt Cuba (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of San Cristóbal de la Habana 27 Josef Frings West Germany (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Cologne 28 Ernesto Ruffini Italy (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Palermo 29 Antonio Caggiano Argentina (age ) CP Pius XII Bishop of Rosario 30 Thomas Tien Ken-sin China (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Beijing 31 Augusto da Silva Brazil (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of São Salvador da Bahia 32 Gaetano Cicognani Italy (age ) CP Pius XII Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Rites 33 Angelo Roncalli* Italy (age ) CP Pius XII Patriarch of Venice 34 Valerio Valeri Italy (age ) CP Pius XII Prefect of the Congregation for Religious 35 Pietro Ciriaci Italy (age ) CP Pius XII Prefect of the Congregation of the Council 36 Maurice Feltin France (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Paris 37 Carlos María de la Torre Ecuador (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Quito 38 Georges Grente France (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Le Mans 39 Giuseppe Siri Italy (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Genoa 40 John D'Alton Ireland (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Armagh 41 James Francis McIntyre United States (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Los Angeles 42 Giacomo Lercaro Italy (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Bologna 43 Stefan Wyszyński Poland (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Gniezno and Warsaw 44 Benjamín de Arriba y Castro Spain (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Tarragona 45 Fernando Quiroga Palacios Spain (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela 46 Paul-Émile Léger Canada (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Montreal 47 Crisanto Luque Sánchez Colombia (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Bogotá 48 Valerian Gracias India (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Bombay 49 Joseph Wendel West Germany (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Munich and Freising 50 Nicola Canali Italy (age ) CD Pius XI Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary (Protodeacon) 51 Alfredo Ottaviani Italy (age ) CD Pius XII Pro-Secretary of the Congregation of the Holy Office
Not in attendance Rank Name Country Born Order Consistory Office Reason for absence 1 József Mindszenty Hungary (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Esztergom Confined to US Embassy 2 Edward Aloysius Mooney United States (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Detroit Died three hours before the conclave 3 Aloysius Stepinac Yugoslavia (age ) CP Pius XII Archbishop of Zagreb Under house arrest
Cardinal electors by continent and country The 51 attending cardinal electors were from 20 countries. The countries with the greatest number of cardinal electors were Italy (seventeen), France (six), and Brazil (four).
+ Cardinal electors by continent Continent Number Percentage Africa 1 North America 5 South America 8 Asia 4 Europe* 32 Oceania 1 Total 51 100.0%
+ Cardinal electors by country Country Continent Number Argentina South America 2 Australia Oceania 1 Belgium Europe 1 Brazil South America 4 Canada North America 2 China Asia 1 Colombia South America 1 Cuba North America 1 Ecuador South America 1 France Europe 6 India Asia 1 Ireland Europe 1 Italy* Europe 17 Lebanon Asia 2 Mozambique Africa 1 Poland Europe 1 Portugal Europe 1 Spain Europe 3 United States North America 2 West Germany Europe 2 Total 51
See also Cardinals created by Pius XI Cardinals created by Pius XII Cardinal electors for the 1939 conclave Cardinal electors in the 1963 conclave
References
External links Conclave of October 25 - 28, 1958