A conclave was held from 18 to 20 February 1878 to elect a new pope to succeed Pius IX, who had died on 7 February. Of the 64 members of the College of Cardinals, all but three attended. On the third ballot, the conclave elected Cardinal Gioacchino Pecci, the camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber and archbishop-bishop of Perugia. After accepting his election, he took the name Leo XIII.
It was the first election of a pope who would not rule the Papal States and the first to meet in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, since the venue used earlier in the 19th century, the Quirinal Palace, was now the palace of the king of Italy, Umberto I.
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