Conclave for the selection of last four popes average two days

With the start of the conclave on May 7, 2025, the Catholic faithful eagerly await who will succeed Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday.

The duration of the conclave is determined by how the cardinal electors reach the required two thirds of the votes or 89 votes out of 133 electors.

In the last four conclaves, the average number of days before the cardinals choose a new pope is two days.

The following is a collection of data on the last four great popes of our time and the number of rounds of votes or days before they were elected:

Pope Francis I

• Name: Jorge Mario Bergoglio
• Birthplace: Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Age when elected: 76 years old when elected the 266th Pontiff on March 13, 2013
• Vatican News reported that the election of Pope Francis was "relatively short: he was elected on March 13, 2013 after just five rounds in under two days."
• The first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in over 100 years. He was buried at the Santa Maria Maggiore. The first Jesuit elected pope. First pope from Latin America.
• He died on April 21, 2025

Pope Benedict XVI

• Name: Joseph Ratzinger
• Place of birth: Marktl am Inn, Germany
• Age on election: 78 years when elected the 265th Pontiff on April 19, 2005
• Elected on the second day of the conclave
• The first pope to resign in 600 years
• Death: December 31, 2022 at 95

Saint Pope John Paul II

• Name: Karol Wojtyla
• Place of birth: Wadowice, Poland
• Age on election: 58 years when elected the 264th Pontiff on October 16, 1978
• Elected after conclave lasted through three days and eight ballots
• Pontificate: 26 years
• Death: April 2, 2005
• First non-Italian pope in 400 years

Pope John Paul I

• Name: Albino Luciani
• Place of birth: Canale d'Argordo, Italy
• Age on election: 66 years old, August 26, 1978
• On the second day of the conclave
• 33 days pontificate, considered the shortest in modern times

— Mariel Celine Serquiña/BAP, GMA Integrated News