The 1740 papal conclave (18 February – 17 August), convoked after the death of Pope Clement XII on 6 February 1740, was one of the longest conclaves since the 13th century.
After six months, other possible candidates had also failed, and Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, Archbishop of Bologna, who had been a cardinal since 9 December 1726, was elected. He took the name Benedict XIV.
The conclave began on 18 February 1740, following the funeral of Clement XII, and lasted for six months.
At the outset, only thirty-two Cardinals entered into the conclave, in which there was an expectation that the elderly Pietro Ottoboni (1667–1740), a Cardinal for more than fifty years and Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals, would be chosen to succeed Clement XII. However, opposition to Ottoboni was raised because of his protective relationship with France. After a few days he was taken seriously ill, left the conclave on 25 February, and died on 29 February.[1][2] Ottoboni's place as Dean was taken by Tommaso Ruffo, vice-dean of the Sacred College.[3]
As more cardinals arrived in Rome and entered into the conclave, a group of the French formed an alliance with the Austrians and with the Spanish cardinals from Naples and Tuscany. The cardinals loyal to the Bourbons proposed the name of Pompeo Aldrovandi, but he fell just short of securing the two-thirds majority required. For forty days, his nomination was voted on unsuccessfully before it became clear he could not be elected.[4]
There was considerable and lengthy confusion, with a series of names advanced, all of whom failed to find the necessary level of support. After long deliberation, Cardinal Lambertini, a canon lawyer, was proposed as a compromise candidate, and he is reported to have said to the College of Cardinals "If you wish to elect a saint, choose Gotti; a statesman, Aldrovandi; an honest man, me".[5][6] This appears to have assisted his cause, which also benefited from his reputation for deep learning, gentleness, wisdom, and conciliation in policy.[7]
In the words of one historian, the College of Cardinals was
"...too sensible of their own weakness to risk giving offense to the neighboring courts, At length they fixed on a man who was at least unlikely to be offensive, as he had never in his life been engaged in diplomatic affairs, either as ambassadorornuncio. This was Prospero Lambertini, a native of Bologna.[8]
On 17 August in the evening, Lambertini was elected Pope, receiving the ballots of more than the required two-thirds of the fifty-one Cardinals present. Lambertini accepted his election and took the name of Benedict XIV in honour of his friend and patron Pope Benedict XIII.[7] It had been one of the longer conclaves, though far from the longest.[a] Benedict was crowned a few days later in the loggia of the Vatican Basilica.
Giovanni Angelo Braschi, later Pope Pius VI, attended the conclave while still a layman as assistant to Cardinal Ruffo.[10]
The young Horace Walpole, who was in Rome at the time, attempted to attend the coronation but gave up because he found the waiting interminable. He wrote to his friend and cousin Conway "I am sorry to have lost the sight of the Pope's coronation, but I might have staid for seeing it till I had been old enough to be Pope myself."[11]
Of the sixty-eight cardinals living at the death of Pope Clement XII, four died during the sede vacante and fifty-one took part in the final ballot.:[12]
Pietro Ottoboni (1667–1740), Created a Cardinal 7 November 1689, bishop of Ostia and Velletri, Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals; he was taken ill during the conclave, left it on 25 February, and died on 29 February 1740.[1]
Tommaso Ruffo (1663–1753), a Cardinal since 17 May 1706, bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina; he succeeded Ottoboni as Dean of the College of Cardinals.
Giambattista Altieri the younger (1673–1740), a Cardinal since 11 September 1724, bishop of Palestrina. He died during the conclave, on 12 March 1740, of apoplexy, having suffered such an attack three years earlier.[13]
Vincenzo Petra (1662–1747), a Cardinal since 20 November 1724
Niccolò Coscia (1682–1755), a Cardinal since 11 June 1725
Fourteen cardinals were absent throughout the conclave:[12]
Lorenzo Altieri (1671–1741), a Cardinal since 13 November 1690, brother of Cardinal Giambattista Altieri (1673–1740), who died during the conclave.
Nuno da Cunha e Ataíde (1664–1750), a Cardinal since 18 May 1712; travelled to Rome for the conclave of 1721, but arrived after it had elected Pope Innocent XIII; did not participate in the conclaves of 1724, 1730, or 1740.[14]
Benedetto Erba Odescalchi (1679–1740), a Cardinal since 30 January 1713, Archbishop of Milan, he resigned the government of his archdiocese in 1736 due to an apoplexy, and died on 13 December 1740.[15]
Léon Potier de Gesvres (1656–1744), a Cardinal since 29 November 1719 and archbishop of Bourges since 1694; he never went to Rome to receive the red hat and did not take part in any conclaves.[16]
Infante Luis, Count of Chinchón (1727–1785), Infante of Spain; the youngest son of Philip V of Spain, and a Cardinal since 19 December 1735, when he was aged eight, he received the red biretta in Madrid in 1736; at the beginning of the conclave he was still only twelve and was in Spain.[18]
^Horace Walpole, ed. Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis, The Yale edition of Horace Walpole's correspondence, vols. 13-14 (1948), pp. 226-227
^Matthew Bunson, The pope encyclopedia: an A to Z of the Holy See (1995), p. 45
^Michael J. Walsh, Pocket Dictionary of Popes (2006) p. 21
^ abAmleto Giovanni Cicognani, Canon law: I. Introduction to the study of canon law, book 1 (1934), p. 401
^Daniel Parish Kidder, The Lives of the popes from A. D. 100 to A. D. 1853 (Carlton & Phillips, 1853), p. 512
^P. H. Gallen, How Popes Are Chosen and Other Essays (1927, reprinted by Kessinger Publishing, 2003), p. 18
^Jeffrey Collins, Papacy and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Rome: Pius VI and the Arts (Cambridge University Press, 2004, ISBN978-0521809436), pp. 9–10
^Horace Walpole, The letters of Horace Walpole, earl of Oxford vol. 1 (Henry G. Bohn, 1861), p. 53
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