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1740 conclave

Election of Catholic Pope Benedict XIV

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
7 min read
Source updated August 19, 2026
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The 1740 papal conclave (18 February, 17 August) was convoked after the death of Pope Clement XII on 6 February 1740 and was one of the longest papal conclaves since the 13th century.

The initial favourite to succeed as pope, the elderly Pietro Ottoboni (1667-1740), Dean of the College of Cardinals, died shortly after the beginning of the conclave, and cardinals loyal to the House of Bourbon repeatedly proposed Pompeo Aldrovandi, but eventually had to accept that he could not secure two-thirds of the votes.

After six months, other possible candidates had also failed, and Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, the archbishop of Bologna, who had been a cardinal since 9 December 1726, was elected. He took the name Benedict XIV.

01Early candidates

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. Ottoboni's place as Dean was taken by Tommaso Ruffo, vice-dean of the Sacred College.

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.

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." This appears to have assisted his cause, which also benefited from his reputation for deep learning, gentleness, wisdom, and conciliation in policy.

Benedict by Bracci
Benedict by Bracci

02Election of Benedict XIV

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 ambassador or nuncio. This was Prospero Lambertini, a native of Bologna.

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. It had been one of the longer conclaves, though far from the longest. Benedict was crowned a few days later in the loggia of the Vatican Basilica.

03Other witnesses

Giovanni Angelo Braschi, later Pope Pius VI, attended the conclave while still a layman as assistant to Cardinal Ruffo.

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."

04List of cardinal electors

List of participants

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.:

List of absentees

Fourteen cardinals were absent throughout the conclave:

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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “1740 conclave”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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