by order of the secretary of the conclave: It was rumoured that immediately after the election, he decided to appoint Pietro Gasparri as his cardinal secretary of state. The contemporary report by The New York Times on the following day 7 February appears to confirm this as it reported that Gasparri, who had served as Benedict XV's secretary of state, was reappointed by the new pope and the reappointment was announced almost immediately after the new pope assumed his pontificate. The Pope also received the diplomatic corps and the Papal aristocracy in an audience later in the afternoon. Pius XI was crowned on 12 February. Unlike his immediate predecessor, who had his coronation in the Sistine Chapel, Pius' coronation took place in the dais in front of the high altar in Saint Peter's Basilica. New rule for scheduling a conclave Immediately following the conclave, the fact that the cardinals had disputed delaying the conclave to await the arrival of the Americans was openly discussed. On 8 February, four French cardinals, Louis Luçon of Rheims, Louis-Ernest Dubois of Paris, Pierre Andrieu of Bordeaux, and Louis-Joseph Maurin of Lyon, asked for changes to church law to allow for an indefinite delay to ensure participation by cardinals for North and South America. And Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, who had led the Italians in opposition to a delay, expressed support for some modification of the schedule. On 28 February Pope Pius met with Cardinal O'Connell and said: "There will be no more racing 5,000 miles in a vain endeavor to reach Rome in time for a Conclave. The United States is too important to be ignored as she has been. I shall see to it that what happened at the last Conclave shall not occur again." Pius XI issued new regulations in Cum Proxime on 1 March 1922. He noted the experience of the conclave that elected him and that cardinals had requested modifications. He set the start of the conclave at ten to fifteen days from the death of the pope and allowed the cardinals to extend that to as long as eighteen days. It had taken the American cardinals from fifteen (6 February) to eighteen days (9 February) to arrive in Rome. For the 1939 papal conclave, the college waited the maximum eighteen days. See also Cardinal electors for the 1922 papal conclave Notes References Sources Further reading 1922 in Italy 1922 elections