In their present form, papal conclaves have existed since 1274. That makes them, by far, the most ancient form for selecting an institutional sovereign in existence. And yet, the Church is much older than that. In fact, for more than half of the Church’s history, the popes were not selected by a conclave. So how did it work before then?
The ancient tradition is that, before his death, Saint Peter, the first pope, actually chose his immediate successor, Linus, as well as the next two popes, Anacletus and Clement. The historicity of this claim is shaky, though. There’s no mention of it in any historical record until more than 300 years after it would have occurred.1 We don’t really know how Linus was chosen to succeed Peter.
Apart from this pious legend, though, there’s a general understanding that, for the first three centuries of Christian history, the pope was chosen in basically the same way all other bishops were chosen. Rome’s priests and deacons as well as the bishops of neighboring territories and (this may come as a surprise) the city’s laity would all gather together to select the most fitting candidate.2
All of this could get quite messy. The 4th century historian, Eusebius, tells a story about a man named Fabian who became pope in 236. Fabian was not among those being considered for Rome’s bishop until a white dove landed on his head in the public square. Immediately, the crowds interpreted this as a sign and hailed him as the next bishop of Rome.3
This kind of thing was more common than you’d think. Though he never became pope, one here thinks of Saint Ambrose who the crowds shouted into the bishopric of Milan in 374 even though he was unbaptized. Even once conclaves provided more formal structures for selecting the pope, cardinals sometimes just shouted a pope onto the throne. They called this an election by “acclamation” or “inspiration.” If they’d not even begun voting, they called it election by “adoration.”4
From the 4th century on, it became common for emperors, kings, and princes to get involved in the election of popes. When the Church and the State were more intimately bound, the State had a keen interest in who was elected. Indeed, just as soon as Constantine legalized Christianity and tied himself to the Church, he began exercising influence over who was named bishop of Rome.
In the generations that followed, there were short-lived efforts to overcome this kind of interference. Two 6th century popes – Felix IV and Boniface II – tried to name their own successors in order to take the State out of it.5 This was ultimately unsuccessful and, by the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, monarchs and princes were profoundly involved in the selection of the pope. In some cases, if a pope had been selected by the clergy, kings reserved the right to veto the selection. And once cardinals exclusively took over selecting the pope in 1059, monarchs even had “crown-cardinals” who participated in conclaves and could veto a selection on the spot. With the fading of Christendom, these practices slowly waned — though they weren’t definitively prohibited until the start of the 20th century.
When Pope Clement IV died in 1268, it took the cardinals, assembled in the city of Viterbo, nearly three years to elect the next pope. Outside voices, both ecclesiastical and political, were influencing the delay. In time, the townspeople cut their food supply. They even tore the roof off the chapel. Two cardinals died when the latrines backed up and disease started to spread.
As a result, future papal elections were to see the cardinals locked and secluded in a room. They were not to be exposed to the outside world until a decision had been made. This is where the word “conclave” comes from – in Latin, cum clave is “with a key.” The cardinals were locking the world and its influences out. But we, in turn, were locking them in so we could get a pope quickly. And we’ve been locking them in ever since.
See Frederic J. Baumgartner, Behind Locked Doors: A History of the Papal Elections (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), pg. 4.
A. Swift, F.G. Morrisey, and S. Miranda, “Popes, Election of,” in New Catholic Encyclopedia, pg. 498.
See Eusebius, History of the Church, trans. G. Williamson (New York, 1966), 268.
See Baumgartner, Behind Locked Doors, pg. xiii.
See Swift, Morrisey, and Miranda, “Popes, Election of,” pg. 498.