Cardinal electors for the 1922 conclave

The papal conclave of 1922 was convened to elect a pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, to succeed Pope Benedict XV following his death on 22 January 1922.

Of the 60 members of the College of Cardinals at the time of Benedict XV's death, 53 participated in the subsequent conclave. The late arrival of several electors led Pope Pius XI, a month after his election, to extend the time between a pope's death and the start of a conclave.

Of the 53 electors, 6 were cardinal bishops, 40 were cardinal priests, and 7 were cardinal deacons; 5 had been created cardinals by Pope Leo XIII, 22 by Pope Pius X, and 26 by Pope Benedict XV; 25 worked in the service of the Holy See (such as in the Roman Curia), and 28 were in pastoral ministry outside Rome. The oldest cardinal elector in the conclave was Vincenzo Vannutelli, at the age of 85, and the youngest was Alessio Ascalesi, at the age of 49.

The cardinal electors entered the Sistine Chapel to begin the conclave on 2 February 1922. On 6 February, after fourteen ballots over five days, they elected Cardinal Achille Ratti, the archbishop of Milan, who took the papal name Pius XI.

Cardinal electors

The data below are as of 22 January 1922, the date on which the Holy See became vacant. Cardinals belonging to institutes of consecrated life or to societies of apostolic life are indicated by the relevant post-nominal letters.

Not in attendance

Cardinal electors by country

The 53 attending cardinal electors were from 12 countries. The countries with the greatest number of cardinal electors were Italy (thirty), France (six), and, jointly, Germany and Spain (three each).