Clement XIII died suddenly on 2 February 1769, a day before the date of the consistory that he had convoked to examine the demands for the general suppression of the Society of Jesus.

In January 1769 France and Naples seized the papal territories around Avignon, Benevento and Pontecorvo to force the pope to issue a decree for the suppression of the order.

[7] An unprecedented event was the visit of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, who arrived incognito in Rome on 6 March and was allowed to enter the conclave.

[9] Ambassadors of France and Spain urged Bernis to insist that the election of the future pope be made to depend on his written engagement to suppress the Jesuits.

Bernis refused, answering that demanding from the future pope a written or oral promise to destroy the Society of Jesus would be in violation of the canon law.

In this way twenty-three out of twenty-eight papabile were eliminated,[3] among them strongly pro-Jesuit Cardinal Fantuzzi, who at some point was very close to achieving election to the papal throne,[10] as well as Cavalchini, Colonna, Stoppani, Pozzobonelli,[11] Sersale,[12] and several others.

Ganganelli answered that "he recognized in the sovereign pontiff the right to extinguish, with good conscience, the Society of Jesus, provided he observed the canon law; and that it was desirable that the pope should do everything in his power to satisfy the wishes of the Crowns".

[14] Cardinal de Bernis, the nominal leader of the court faction, probably did not play any role in the appointment of Ganganelli and only followed the instructions of Marquis d'Aubeterre when all had been already known.

[15] In the final ballot on 19 May 1769 Cardinal Lorenzo Ganganelli was elected to the papacy receiving all votes except of his own, which he gave to Carlo Rezzonico, nephew of Clement XIII and one of the leaders of Zelanti.