A little before Christmas 1197, the 91-year-old Pope began to feel ill, and summoned all the cardinals to a meeting in his presence, announcing that they should discuss the matter of electing his successor.

He stated that he was willing to abdicate the papacy on condition that his close collaborator, Cardinal Giovanni di San Paolo, would be elected the new pope.

[5] Two weeks later, on 8 January 1198, Celestine III died, and on the same day the cardinals started proceedings for the election of his successor.

[12] In the first scrutiny Cardinal Giovanni di Salerno received the greatest number of votes (ten), but declared that he would not accept the election to the pontificate.

The name was possibly chosen for him by cardinal Graziano da Pisa, as a means to supplant the memory of Antipope Innocent III.