The papal conclave held from 31 July to 4 August 1903 saw the election of Cardinal Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto to become pope in succession to Leo XIII, who had died on 20 July after a 25-year-long pontificate. Some 62 cardinals participated in the balloting. Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria asserted the right claimed by certain Catholic rulers to veto a candidate for the papacy, blocking the election of the leading candidate, Cardinal Secretary of State Mariano Rampolla. Sarto was elected on the seventh ballot and took the name Pius X.
1903 papal conclave
Pope Pius X (1903–1914) wearing the 1834 Papal Tiara of Pope Gregory XVI
A papal conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a bishop of Rome, also known as the pope. Catholics consider the pope to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and the earthly head of the Catholic Church.
The 1492 papal conclave was the first to be held in the Sistine Chapel, the site of all conclaves since 1878.
Since the conclave of 2005, the cardinals electors reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae for the length of the conclave.
The camerlengo proclaiming a papal death
Cardinals, bishops and priests attending the funeral of Pope John Paul II