October 1978 papal conclave October 1978 papal conclave The papal conclave of October 1978 was triggered by the death of Pope John Paul I on 28 September just 33 days after his election on 26 August. The conclave to elect John Paul I's successor began on 14 October and ended two days later on 16 October, after eight ballots. The cardinal electors elected Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, Archbishop of Kraków, as the new pope. Resulting in the most recent Year of Three Popes, he accepted his election and took the pontifical name of "John Paul II". Ten days after the funeral of Pope John Paul
Papal election reforms of Pope Benedict XVI two-thirds majority rule. He establish the procedure that after 33 ballots (still excluding the first day's ballot if any), additional ballots would allow voting only for the two candidates with the greatest number of votes in the preceding ballot, and he excluded those two candidates from participation in the balloting. Benedict resigned the papacy on 11 February 2013, effective 28 February. On 22 February he issued his second set of instructions on the papal election process, "Normas nonnullas". Following his resignation, cardinals had questioned the rule that they delay starting the conclave until 15 days after the papacy fell vacant.