August 1978 papal conclave

Papal conclave August 1978
Dates and location
25–26 August 1978 Sistine Chapel, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City
Key officials
Dean	Carlo Confalonieri
Sub-dean	Paolo Marella
Camerlengo	Jean-Marie Villot
Protopriest	Carlos Carmelo de Vasconcelos Motta
Protodeacon	Pericle Felici
Secretary	Ernesto Civardi
Election
Ballots	4
Elected pope
Albino Luciani Name taken: John Paul I
← 1963 October 1978 →

The papal conclave held on 25 and 26 August 1978 was the first of the two held that year. It was convoked to elect a successor to Paul VI, who had died on 6 August 1978. After the cardinal electors assembled in Rome, they elected Cardinal Albino Luciani, Patriarch of Venice, as the new pope on the fourth ballot. He accepted the election and took the name John Paul I.

It was the first conclave since the promulgation of Ingravescentem aetatem (1970), which made cardinals who had reached the age of 80 by the day the conclave began ineligible to participate in the balloting. There were 15 cardinals excluded by that rule. The number of votes cast for Luciani on the final ballot was so great that even the uniform opposition of these cardinals would not have changed the outcome.^[1]