The papal conclave of 1922 was convened to elect a pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, to succeed Pope Benedict XV following his death on 22 January 1922.
Of the 60 members of the College of Cardinals at the time of Benedict XV's death, 53 participated in the subsequent conclave. The late arrival of several electors led Pope Pius XI, a month after his election, to extend the time between a pope's death and the start of a conclave.
Of the 53 electors, 6 were cardinal bishops, 40 were cardinal priests, and 7 were cardinal deacons; 5 had been created cardinals by Pope Leo XIII, 22 by Pope Pius X, and 26 by Pope Benedict XV; 25 worked in the service of the Holy See (such as in the Roman Curia), and 28 were in pastoral ministry outside Rome. The oldest cardinal elector in the conclave was Vincenzo Vannutelli, at the age of 85, and the youngest was Alessio Ascalesi, at the age of 49.
The cardinal electors entered the Sistine Chapel to begin the conclave on 2 February 1922. On 6 February, after fourteen ballots over five days, they elected Cardinal Achille Ratti, the archbishop of Milan, who took the papal name Pius XI.
Cardinal electors The data below are as of 22 January 1922, 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 Vincenzo Vannutelli Italy (age ) CB Leo XIII Prefect of the Congregation of Ceremonies, Datary of the Apostolic Dataria (Dean) 2 Gaetano de Lai Italy (age ) CB Pius X Secretary of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation (Vice-Dean) 3 Antonio Vico Italy (age ) CB Pius X Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Rites 4 Gennaro Granito Pignatelli di Belmonte Italy (age ) CB Pius X Cardinal Bishop of Albano 5 Basilio Pompilj Italy (age ) CB Pius X Vicar General of Rome 6 Giovanni Cagliero Italy (age ) CB Benedict XV Cardinal Bishop of Frascati 7 Michael Logue IrelandUnited Kingdom (age ) CP Leo XIII Archbishop of Armagh 8 Giuseppe Francica-Nava de Bontifè Italy (age ) CP Leo XIII Archbishop of Catania 9 Agostino Richelmy Italy (age ) CP Leo XIII Archbishop of Turin 10 Bartolomeo Bacilieri Italy (age ) CP Leo XIII Bishop of Verona 11 Rafael Merry del Val Italy (age ) CP Pius X Secretary of the Congregation of the Holy Office 12 Ottavio Cagiano de Azevedo Italy (age ) CP Pius X Chancellor of the Apostolic Chancery 13 Pietro Maffi Italy (age ) CP Pius X Archbishop of Pisa 14 Alessandro Lualdi Italy (age ) CP Pius X Archbishop of Palermo 15 Désiré-Joseph Mercier Belgium (age ) CP Pius X Archbishop of Mechelen 16 Pietro Gasparri Italy (age ) CP Pius X Cardinal Secretary of State (Camerlengo) 17 Louis Luçon France (age ) CP Pius X Archbishop of Reims 18 Pierre Andrieu France (age ) CP Pius X Archbishop of Bordeaux 19 António Mendes Belo Portugal (age ) CP Pius X Patriarch of Lisbon 20 Francis Bourne United Kingdom (age ) CP Pius X Archbishop of Westminster 21 Willem Marinus van Rossum Netherlands (age ) CP Pius X Prefect of the Congregation for Propagation of the Faith 22 János Csernoch Hungary (age ) CP Pius X Archbishop of Esztergom 23 Friedrich Gustav Piffl Austria (age ) CP Pius X Archbishop of Vienna 24 Alfonso Mistrangelo Italy (age ) CP Pius X Archbishop of Florence 25 Andreas Frühwirth Austria (age ) CP Benedict XV Cardinal Priest of Santi Cosma e Damiano 26 Raffaele Scapinelli di Leguigno Italy (age ) CP Benedict XV Cardinal Priest of San Girolamo dei Croati 27 Pietro La Fontaine Italy (age ) CP Benedict XV Patriarch of Venice 28 Vittorio Ranuzzi de' Bianchi Italy (age ) CP Benedict XV Papal majordomo 29 Donato Sbarretti Italy (age ) CP Benedict XV Prefect of the Congregation of the Council 30 Louis-Ernest Dubois France (age ) CB Benedict XV Archbishop of Paris 31 Tommaso Pio Boggiani Italy (age ) CP Benedict XV Archbishop Emeritus of Genoa 32 Alessio Ascalesi Italy (age ) CP Benedict XV Archbishop of Benevento 33 Louis-Joseph Maurin France (age ) CP Benedict XV Archbishop of Lyon 34 Adolf Bertram Germany (age ) CP Benedict XV Archbishop of Breslau 35 Augusto Silj Italy (age ) CP Benedict XV Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura 36 Juan Soldevila y Romero Spain (age ) CP Benedict XV Archbishop of Zaragoza 37 Teodoro Valfre di Bonzo Italy (age ) CP Benedict XV Prefect of the Congregation for Religious 38 Aleksander Kakowski Poland (age ) CP Benedict XV Archbishop of Warsaw 39 Edmund Dalbor Poland (age ) CP Benedict XV Archbishop of Gniezno and Poznań 40 Francesco Ragonesi Italy (age ) CP Benedict XV Apostolic Nuncio Emeritus to Spain 41 Michael von Faulhaber Germany (age ) CP Benedict XV Archbishop of Munich and Freising 42 Juan Benlloch i Vivó Spain (age ) CP Benedict XV Archbishop of Burgos 43 Francisco Vidal y Barraquer Spain (age ) CP Benedict XV Archbishop of Tarragona 44 Karl Joseph Schulte Germany (age ) CP Benedict XV Archbishop of Cologne 45 Giovanni Tacci Italy (age ) CP Benedict XV Prefecture of the Pontifical Household 46 Achille Ratti* Italy (age ) CP Benedict XV Archbishop of Milan 47 Gaetano Bisleti Italy (age ) CD Pius X Prefect of the Congregation of Seminaries and Universities (Protodeacon) 48 Louis Billot France (age ) CD Pius X Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria in Via Lata 49 Michele Lega France (age ) CD Pius X Prefect of the Congregation of the Discipline of the Sacraments 50 Francis Aidan Gasquet United Kingdom (age ) CD Pius X Archivist of the Vatican Secret Archive, Librarian of the Vatican Library 51 Niccolò Marini Italy (age ) CD Benedict XV Secretary Emeritus of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches 52 Oreste Giorgi Italy (age ) CD Benedict XV Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary 53 Camillo Laurenti Italy (age ) CD Benedict XV Secretary of the Congregation for Propagation of the Faith
Not in attendance Rank Name Country Born Order Consistory Office Reason for absence 1 William Henry O'Connell United States (age ) CP Pius X Archbishop of Boston Did not arrive in time 2 Dennis Joseph Dougherty United States (age ) CP Benedict XV Archbishop of Philadelphia Did not arrive in time 3 Louis-Nazaire Bégin Canada (age ) CP Pius X Archbishop of Quebec Did not arrive in time 4 José María Martín de Herrera y de la Iglesia Spain (age ) CP Leo XIII Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela Illness 5 Lev Skrbenský z Hříště Czechoslovakia (age ) CP Leo XIII Archbishop of Olomouc Illness 6 Giuseppe Antonio Ermenegildo Prisco Italy (age ) CP Leo XIII Archbishop of Naples Illness 7 Joaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti Brazil (age ) CP Pius X Archbishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro Did not attempt the journey
Cardinal electors by country The 53 attending cardinal electors were from 12 countries. The countries with the greatest number of cardinal electors were Italy (thirty), France (six), and, jointly, Germany and Spain (three each).
+ Cardinal electors by country Country Continent Number Austria Europe 2 Belgium Europe 1 France Europe 6 Germany Europe 3 Hungary Europe 1 Ireland Europe 1 Italy* Europe 30 Netherlands Europe 1 Poland Europe 2 Portugal Europe 1 Spain Europe 3 United Kingdom Europe3 Total 53
See also Cardinals created by Leo XIII Cardinals created by Pius X Cardinals created by Benedict XV Cardinal electors for the 1914 conclave Cardinal electors for the 1939 conclave
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Republished by Muriwai Books, 2017.