2005 papal conclave

The 2005 papal conclave was when cardinals met to elect a new pope following the death of Pope John Paul II on 2 April 2005. After his death, the cardinals of the Catholic Church who were in Rome met and set a date for the beginning of the conclave to elect his replacement.

After several days of private meetings attended by both cardinal electors and non-voting cardinals, the conclave began on 18 April 2005. It ended the next day after four ballots with the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the next pope, Benedict XVI. Ratzinger himself was the dean of this conclave. It took place at the Sistine Chapel.

Voting process
200px|thumb|right|Jorge Bergoglio always came in second place during all voting rounds. He was elected pope in 2013
Day one
Nothing is confirmed from this secret voting process and most numbers are guesses.

An anonymous cardinal provided his diary to an Italian journalist in September 2005 and it was published in full in 2011. That source gives the results of the first ballot as:

Joseph Ratzinger – 47 votes 
Jorge Mario Bergoglio – 10 votes 
Carlo Maria Martini – 9 votes 
Camillo Ruini – 6 votes 
Angelo Sodano – 4 votes 
Oscar Maradiaga – 3 votes 
Dionigi Tettamanzi – 2 votes 
Giacomo Biffi – 1 vote 
Others – 33 votes

Day two
Second ballot:
Ratzinger – 65 votes 
Bergoglio – 35 votes
Sodano – 4 votes 
Tettamanzi – 2 votes 
Biffi – 1 vote
Others – 8 votes

Third ballot:
Ratzinger – 72 votes 
Bergoglio – 40 votes 
Darío Castrillón Hoyos – 1 vote 
Others – 2 votes

Fourth ballot:
Ratzinger – 84 votes 
Bergoglio – 26 votes 
Biffi – 1 vote 
Bernard Francis Law – 1 vote 
Christoph Schönborn – 1 vote
Others – 2 votes

References

Category:2005 in Europe
Category:2005 elections
Category:Papal conclaves