What was formed by the catholic church as the sole body responsible for the election of popes?

conclave, (from Latin cum clave, “with a key”), in the Roman Catholic Church, the assembly of cardinals gathered to elect a new pope and the system of strict seclusion to which they submit.

The early history of papal elections remains unclear. There is some evidence that the early popes, including Peter, appointed their own successors, though this practice evidently failed to gain support. Subsequently, the election of the bishop of Rome (the pope) mirrored the election process for bishops in other towns: the local clergy were the electors; neighbouring bishops acted as presidents of the assembly and judges of the election; and the laity indicated their approval or disapproval more or less tumultuously. Elections were sometimes challenged or disrupted; as early as 217, a schism occurred and rival popes were elected (see antipope). After the Roman emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in the early 4th century, the emperor assumed a role in the election, often presiding over the process and at times imposing a candidate. In the 6th century the Byzantine emperor Justinian I asserted that the newly elected pope could not be consecrated until his election had been confirmed by the emperor. Two centuries later the Carolingian kings of the Franks, the preeminent power in Latin Christendom, replaced the Byzantine emperor as the secular authority who received formal notification of the results of papal elections, and Western rulers subsequently appropriated the rights and privileges assumed by Justinian and his successors. In the 10th and 11th centuries popes were appointed by Otto I and Henry III, respectively.

In the 11th century, when the entire church underwent reformation, the system of papal election was transformed. In 1059 Pope Nicholas II (1059–61) issued a decree that reformed the electoral procedure, limiting the role of the emperor. The election was to be carried out by the cardinal bishops with the assent of the cardinal priests and deacons and the acclamation of the people. Despite these reforms, papal elections in the 12th century continued to be turbulent affairs. In the 1130s and the 1160s and ’70s, schisms occurred as disputed elections led to the consecration of popes and antipopes. The third Lateran Council (1179), which followed one of these schisms, made all cardinals electors and required a two-thirds majority to decide the election.

Nevertheless, abuses still occurred. When the cardinals failed to elect a pope for more than two years after the death of Clement IV (1265–68), the local magistrate locked the electors in the episcopal palace, removed the roof (subjecting the cardinals to the elements), and allowed the cardinals nothing but bread and water until they made their selection, Gregory X (1271–76). At the second Council of Lyon in 1274, Gregory promulgated a constitution that called for the cardinals to meet in closed conclave and imposed strict regulations to guide the election; Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303) ordered this decree incorporated into canon law. Despite the wisdom and rigour of Gregory’s reform, papal elections continued to face difficulties in the 14th century. The most serious problem resulted in the Western Schism, when in 1378 two groups of cardinals elected rival popes, one residing in Avignon and the other in Rome, and a third group of cardinals, convening in Pisa in 1409, elected a third. The crisis caused by the schism was partially resolved by the reforms implemented at the Council of Constance (1414–18): the claims to the papacy of the Avignon pope, Benedict (XIII), and the pope selected by the Pisan cardinals, John (XXIII), were rejected, and each was branded a schismatic “antipope”; Gregory XII grudgingly resigned; and Martin V was elected to replace him.

Electoral rules were further regularized in the 16th and 17th centuries. Pius IV (1559–65) codified all laws on the conclave that had been promulgated since the time of Gregory X. In 1591 Gregory XIV (1590–91) forbade, under penalty of excommunication, the placing of bets on the election of the pope, on the duration of the pope’s reign, and on the selection of new cardinals. Gregory XV (1621–23) issued legislation specifying in detail the procedure of the conclave.

By the 17th century the church had tacitly accepted a right of veto, or exclusion, in papal elections by the Catholic kings of Europe. Typically, a cardinal who was charged with the mission by his home government would inform the conclave of the inadmissability of certain papal candidates. The royal right of exclusion prevented the election to the papal office of various cardinals in 1721, 1730, 1758, and 1830. The right was exercised for the last time in 1903, when Austria blocked the election of Cardinal Rampolla. The conclave then chose Cardinal Sarto, who, as Pius X (1903–14), abolished the right of exclusion and threatened to excommunicate any cardinal who accepted from his government the mission of proposing a veto of a papal candidate.

Despite popular artistic representation, rain does not fall from the sky shaped like teardrops; raindrops actually resemble hamburger buns.

Various popes in the 18th and 19th centuries issued decrees that provided flexibility over the sequestering of the cardinals and that responded to the possibility of interference by secular powers. The entire procedure was codified in a constitution issued by Pius X on December 25, 1904. Pius XII’s (1939–58) constitution (December 8, 1945) introduced modifications and increased the required majority to two-thirds plus one. Paul VI (1963–78) directed that cardinals who are 80 years of age or older cannot vote; he also limited the number of voting cardinals to 120. John Paul II (1978–2005) issued several more directives, notably declaring that after 30 ballots the traditional requirement of a two-thirds majority may, at the discretion of the cardinals, be superseded by election by a simple majority. In 2007 Benedict XVI (2005–13) restored the traditional practice, declaring that the valid election of a new pope required a two-thirds majority.

papacy, the office and jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome, the pope (Latin papa, from Greek pappas, “father”), who presides over the central government of the Roman Catholic Church, the largest of the three major branches of Christianity. The term pope was originally applied to all the bishops in the West and also used to describe the patriarch of Alexandria, who still retains the title. In 1073, however, Pope Gregory VII restricted its use to the bishop of Rome, confirming a practice that had existed since the 9th century. According to the Annuario Pontificio, the papal annual, there have been more than 260 popes since St. Peter, traditionally considered the first pope. Among these, 82 have been proclaimed saints, as have some antipopes (rival claimants to the papal throne who were appointed or elected in opposition to the legitimate pope). Most holders of the office have been Roman or Italian, with a sprinkling of other Europeans, including one Pole, and one Latin American pope. All have been male, though the legend of a female Pope Joan appeared in the 13th century. During the course of the 2,000 years in which the papal system and the practice of electing popes in the conclave have evolved, the papacy has played a crucial role in both Western and world history. The history of the papacy can be divided into five major periods: the early papacy, from St. Peter through Pelagius II (until 590); the medieval papacy, from St. Gregory I through Boniface VIII (590–1303); the Renaissance and Reformation papacy, from Benedict XI through Pius IV (1303–1565); the early modern papacy, from St. Pius V through Clement XIV (1566–1774); and the modern papacy, from Pius VI (1775–99).

Apart from the allusion to Rome in the First Letter of Peter, there is no historical evidence that St. Peter was Rome’s first bishop or that he was martyred in Rome (according to tradition, he was crucified upside down) during a persecution of the Christians in the mid-60s ce. By the end of the 1st century, however, his presence in the imperial capital was recognized by Christian leaders, and the city was accorded a place of honour, perhaps because of its claim to the graves of both Saints Peter and Paul. In 1939 what were believed to be Peter’s bones were found under the altar of the basilica dedicated to him, and in 1965 Pope Paul VI (1963–78) confirmed them as such. Rome’s primacy was also fostered by its many martyrs, its defense of orthodoxy, and its status as the capital of the Roman Empire. By the end of the 2nd century, Rome’s stature was further bolstered by the Petrine theory, which claimed that Jesus Christ had designated Peter to be his representative on earth and the leader of the church and that this ministry was passed on to Peter’s successors as bishops of Rome. Peter received this authority, according to the theory, when Jesus referred to him as the rock of the church and said to him, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:18–19). The Roman position of honour was challenged in the middle of the 3rd century when Pope Stephen I (254–257) and St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, clashed over Stephen’s claim to doctrinal authority over the universal church. Nonetheless, in the critical period between Popes Damasus I (366–384) and Leo I (440–461), nine popes made a strong case for Rome’s supremacy, despite a growing challenge from the see of Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Empire.

The papacy has existed for more than two millennia. Can you identify the years that every pope—and every antipope—held his position?

New from Britannica

Despite popular artistic representation, rain does not fall from the sky shaped like teardrops; raindrops actually resemble hamburger buns.

Leo, one of only two popes accorded the appellation “the Great,” played a pivotal role in the early history of the papacy. Assuming the title pontifex maximus, or chief priest, he made an important distinction between the person of the pope and his office, maintaining that the office assumed the full power bestowed on Peter. Although the Council of Chalcedon—called and largely directed by the Eastern emperor Marcian in 451—accorded the patriarch of Constantinople the same primacy in the East that the bishop of Rome held in the West, it acknowledged that Leo I spoke with the voice of Peter on matters of dogma, thus encouraging papal primacy. The link between Peter and the office of the bishop of Rome was stressed by Pope Gelasius I (492–496), who was the first pope to be referred to as the “vicar of Christ.” In his “theory of the two swords,” Gelasius articulated a dualistic power structure, insisting that the pope embodied spiritual power while the emperor embodied temporal power. This position, which was supported by Pope Pelagius I (556–561), became an important part of medieval ecclesiology and political theory.