A papal conclave was held from 19 to 21 June 1963 to elect a successor of John XXIII, who had died on 3 June 1963. The cardinal electors assembled in Rome and, after six ballots, elected Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan. He accepted the election and took the name Paul VI. Paul VI's coronation on 30 June was the last papal coronation to date. Background John XXIII's death left the future of the Second Vatican Council in the balance, as the election of an anti-Council pope could have severely curbed the Council's role. The leading papabile candidates were Giovanni Battista Montini of Milan, who had not been a cardinal at the time of the previous conclave, and was supportive of reforms proposed at the Council; Giacomo Lercaro of Bologna, who was considered a liberal, close to John XXIII; and Giuseppe Siri of Genoa, papabile in 1958 and critical of these reforms. Cardinal Gregorio Pietro Agagianian, the former Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia was also thought to be papabile. Reportedly, John XXIII had sent oblique signals indicating that he thought Montini would make a fine pope. Participants The 1963 papal conclave, which met from 19 to 21 June, at the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, was the largest ever assembled. There were 82 cardinal electors eligible to participate. The only two who did not were Cardinal József Mindszenty, who refused to leave the U.S. Legation in Budapest where he had lived since 1956 unless the Hungarian government met his demands for religious freedom in Hungary, and Cardinal Carlos María de la Torre of Quito, Ecuador, who was 89 years old and could not make the journey because he had suffered a stroke the previous December and was bedridden with thrombosis. Of the eighty cardinals who did participate, eight had been elevated by Pope Pius XI, twenty-seven by Pius XII, and the other 45 by John XXIII. Each cardinal elector was allowed one aide. They came from 29 countries, compared to 51 from 21 countries in the conclave of 1958 and 59 from 16 countries in 1939. The Italians were outnumbered 51 to 29. Balloting Under the latest rules, election required the votes of two-thirds of those voting, in this case 54. No ballots were taken on the first day, then two each morning and two each afternoon. Because there had been confusion at the last conclave in 1958 over