The cardinal protodeacon, the senior cardinal deacon in order of appointment to the College of Cardinals, has the privilege of announcing a new pope's election and name (once he has been ordained to the Episcopate) from the central balcony at the Basilica of Saint Peter in Vatican City State. In the past, during papal coronations, the proto-deacon also had the honor of bestowing the pallium on the new pope and crowning him with the papal tiara. However, in 1978 Pope John Paul I chose not to be crowned and opted for a simpler papal inauguration ceremony, and his three successors followed that example. As a result, the Cardinal protodeacon's privilege of crowning a new pope has effectively ceased although it could be revived if a future Pope were to restore a coronation ceremony. However, the proto-deacon still has the privilege of bestowing the pallium on a new pope at his papal inauguration. “Acting in the place of the Roman Pontiff, he also confers the pallium upon metropolitan bishops or gives the pallium to their proxies.” The current cardinal proto-deacon is Renato Raffaele Martino.

Who announces the election of a new pope?