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 Vasconcellos Motta
Protodeacon	Pericle Felici
Secretary	Ernesto Civardi
Election
Electors	111 (list)
Candidates	See papabili
Ballots	4
Elected pope
Albino Luciani Name taken: John Paul I
← 1963 October 1978 →

A papal conclave was held from 25 to 26 August 1978 to elect a successor to Paul VI, who had died on 6 August 1978. It was the first of the two conclaves held that year. The cardinal electors assembled in Rome and elected Cardinal Albino Luciani, the patriarch of Venice, as the new pope on the fourth ballot. He accepted his 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 a theoretical uniform opposition of these 15 cardinals would not have changed the outcome.^[1]