Would this be a valid conclave?

[TradCatholic22]

My friend and I were discussing what would happen if only three cardinals were in existence in the entire world and if a conclave held by them would be valid. There is the dean of the College of Cardinals, who we all know cannot vote.Then there are then two eligible voting cardinals. The two cardinals vote in the first two rounds without success, one voting for the dean, and one for the other voting cardinal.

The third and final resulted in both voting Cardinals voting for voting cardinal #1. Since there is a 2/3 majority rule, would this a valid conclave with only two voters? Would the cardinal they elected be an antipope?

I know this question sounds very silly, but my friend and I are getting in a pretty intense debate and he is beginning to fling insults.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

You’ve got a number of mistaken assumptions bundled in here that are clouding what is actually a simple issue. Let’s clear away the mistaken assumptions first.

There is the dean of the College of Cardinals, who we all know cannot vote.

Who says so? Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was dean of the college in 2005 and he was a voting cardinal. In the conclave in 2013, the current dean, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, could not vote only because he was over age 80.

TradCatholic22:

Then there are then two eligible voting cardinals. The two cardinals vote in the first two rounds without success, one voting for the dean, and one for the other voting cardinal.

Why do we have any idea how they’d vote? Since this would be an emergency situation, it is likely that they would not want to prolong the process by disagreement.

TradCatholic22:

The third and final resulted in both voting Cardinals voting for voting cardinal #1. Since there is a 2/3 majority rule, would this a valid conclave with only two voters? Would the cardinal they elected be an antipope?

Why do you assume there would be a two-thirds rule under such conditions? The Church has not always selected a new pope according to current conclave rules and certainly could change those rules for papal selection again should future situations warrant it. For all we know, those three cardinals could decide to play Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine who the next pope will be. If they agreed to those terms under such extraordinary conditions and the winner accepted election, the winner would be pope.