How papal conclave will elect new pope to succeed Francis

The 267th pope will determine if the church will continue the reforms started by Francis, or choose a more conventional path.
Cardinals and church staff are sworn to secrecy in all matters relating to the papal conclave, including being sequestered in the Sistine Chapel during voting. No communication with the outside world is permitted. Cardinals are not allowed internet access and can't have smartphones, computers, radios, televisions, or other devices.
It's called a conclave from the Latin term cum clave, meaning "with a key." Here's what happens behind those locked doors:
Can't see our graphics? Click here to view them.
How secret are the papal conclave votes? Very
The Sistine Chapel was completed in 1481, and its first papal conclave was in 1492. Conclaves have convened consistently at the chapel since 1878.
The chapel's interior is known for its ceiling paintings by Michelangelo and for frescoes painted by Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Rosselli, and others. More than 5 million tourists visit the chapel every year.
The cardinals are sequestered inside the chapel during voting. They live at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, a guesthouse next to St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. It's where Pope Francis took lodging and it's a short walk to the Sistine Chapel.
What security measures are taken for the conclave?
Under church law, cardinals must gather within 15 to 20 days after the death of a pope to choose a successor. For the papal conclave, the Sistine Chapel is closed to the public and several security precautions are taken to prevent outside influence.
?The chapel and nearby rooms are electronically swept for cameras, or other surveillance or listening devices.
?Cardinals and support staff swear on the Bible, under penalty of excommunication, to keep all deliberations secret.
?Cardinals are secluded during the conclave and are forbidden from any communication with the outside world.
?A temporary wood floor, or platform, is added to protect the marble floor.
?Two temporary stoves are installed to burn ballots.
?Devices that jam electronic signals are installed on the chapel's walls.
?Wi-Fi access in the Vatican is shut down.
?The Vatican's Swiss Guards are stationed outside the chapel to prevent unauthorized entry.
Once inside, a cardinal can't leave except for illness or extreme circumstances.
Cardinals eat together during the conclave, but even the menu is restricted. Foods in which messages could be concealed, like pies or chicken, are prohibited.
How many cardinals will vote for the pope?
The Catholic Church has 252 cardinals worldwide. They are the senior officials of the church and are known collectively as the College of Cardinals.
Only cardinals younger than 80 are allowed to vote in a conclave, under a rule called Ingravescentem Aetatem, established by Pope Paul VI in 1970. One cardinal, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu of Italy, convicted of financial crimes, has said he will not vote. That leaves 135 eligible cardinals.
If a cardinal turns 80 during the conclave, he can still vote.
Two cardinals won't be there because of health issues:
?Antonio Canizares Llovera, archbishop of Valencia, Spain.
?John Njue, archbishop emeritus of Nairobi, Kenya.
That leaves 133 eligible cardinals.
While they are not required to vote for a fellow cardinal - the church's Canon Law says any baptized, unmarried man is eligible - only six non-cardinals have been elected pope in the church's history. The last was Urban VI, in 1378.
On the first day of the conclave, cardinals celebrate Mass in the morning and gather in the Sistine Chapel at 4:30 p.m. They can hold one ballot on the first day.
More: Betting odds rise for one favorite to be next pope and succeed Pope Francis
How does voting take place?
A set of 12 long wooden tables is placed inside the Sistine Chapel. Cardinals enter the chapel and swear on a Bible to keep deliberations secret.
Those who are not voting are ordered to leave the chapel. The doors are closed.
Each day, all the cardinals choose nine different cardinals by lot:
Here's what happens, according to America: The Jesuit Review and RTVE:
?The first ballot, the only one of the first day, takes place. At their tables, cardinals use pens to write the names of their candidates on rectangular sheets of paper inscribed with "Elijo como Supremo Pontifice" or "I elect as Supreme Pontiff." They print or disguise their handwriting to maintain secrecy.
?Cardinals write a candidate's name below the inscription. They fold the paper and carry it to the altar, which has a large urn or chalice with a metal plate on it.
?They place the paper on the plate, slip the paper inside the urn, and return to their tables.
?The three scrutineers count and review the ballots, making sure the number of ballots matches the number of voting cardinals.
Names on the ballots are read aloud and recorded. The reviewers check the ballots and recordings of the scrutineers. The work is done in view of all the cardinals.
?Used ballots are pierced by a threaded needle. When the count is finished, the thread is knotted and the ballots are burned in a special stove installed in the chapel.
?Chemicals are added to color the smoke black or white. Black smoke indicates no decision. White smoke announces a new pope.
A candidate must have a two-thirds majority - 89 of 133 votes - to be elected pope.
Voting continues on successive days, with two ballots in the morning and two more in the afternoon. If a choice isn't made in three days, voting is suspended for a day of prayer.
Seven more ballots are conducted. If a decision isn't reached, voting is suspended for another day. The seven ballots and one day of suspension are conducted twice more.
If a two-thirds majority isn't reached, the two candidates with the most votes enter runoff elections. The two candidates are not eligible to vote.
However, in the last 12 papal conclaves since 1846, popes have been chosen within three to five days.
What happens when a new pope is chosen?
The dean of the College of Cardinals asks the newly elected pope if he accepts the election. The new pope then chooses his papal name, one that reflects his heritage, values and history.
The ballots are burned, but this time white smoke billows from the chapel chimney to let the world know of the decision.
The pope enters a chamber in the chapel known as the Room of Tears - named for the emotional reactions of popes who realize their new responsibilities. The room holds papal vestments of three different sizes.
The pope dons the vestments and the cardinals pay homage. Then the pope is taken to the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, where a senior cardinal announces "Habemus Papam," the Latin term for "We have a pope" to the waiting crowd.
The pope then addresses the crowd and gives his first blessing.
CONTRIBUTING Ramon Padilla
SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Reuters; National Catholic Reporter; OSV News; vatican.va; Georgetown University; therecordnewspaper.org; catholic365.com; aleteia.org; rtve.es; Vatican News; U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; America: The Jesuit Review

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

The Independent

a day ago

• The Independent

Pope Leo XIV says there should be no tolerance for abuse of any kind in Catholic Church

Pope Leo XIV has said there should be no tolerance in the Catholic Church for any type of abuse – sexual, spiritual or abuse of authority -- and called for 'transparent processes' to create a culture of prevention across the church. Leo made his first public comments about the clergy sex abuse scandal in a written message to a Peruvian journalist who documented a particularly egregious case of abuse and financial corruption in a Peruvian-based Catholic movement, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae. The message was read out loud on Friday night in Lima during a performance of a play based on the Sodalitium scandal and the work of the journalist, Paola Ugaz. 'It is urgent to root in the whole church a culture of prevention that does not tolerate any form of abuse - neither of power or authority, nor abuse of conscience, spiritual or sexual abuse,' Leo said in the message. 'This culture will only be authentic if it is born of active vigilance, of transparent processes and sincere listening to those who have been hurt. For this, we need journalists.' Leo is well aware of the Sodalitium scandal, since he spent two decades as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru, where the group was founded in 1971. The then-Bishop Robert Prevost was responsible for listening to the Sodalitium's victims as the Peruvian bishops' point-person for abuse victims and helped some reach financial settlements with the organization. After Pope Francis brought him to the Vatican in 2023, Prevost helped dismantle the group entirely by overseeing the resignation of a powerful Sodalitium bishop. The Sodalitium was officially suppressed earlier this year, right before Francis died. Now as pope, Leo has to oversee the dismantling of the Soldalitium and its sizeable assets. The Vatican envoy on the ground handling the job, Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, read out Leo's message on Friday night, appearing alongside Ugaz on stage. In the message, Leo also praised journalists for their courage in holding the powerful to account, demanded public authorities protect them and said a free press is an 'common good that cannot be renounced.' Ugaz and a Sodalitium victim, Pedro Salinas, have faced years of criminal and civil litigation from Sodalitium and its supporters for their investigative reporting into the group's twisted practices and financial misconduct, and they have praised Leo for his handling of the case. The abuse scandal is one of the thorniest dossiers facing Leo, especially given demands from survivors that he go even farther than Francis in applying a zero-tolerance for abuse across the church, including for abusers whose victims were adults. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

The Guardian

a day ago

• The Guardian

Pope commits to weeding out church sexual abuse, praises role of press in democracy

The Roman Catholic church must 'not tolerate any form of abuse', sexual or otherwise, Pope Leo XIV has said in his first public remarks about the worldwide clerical molestation scandal that has long roiled the church. In a statement read on Friday at the performance of a play which dramatizes the work of a journalist who endured harassment while investigating abuse scandals within a powerful Catholic group, Leo maintained that it was necessary to inculcate 'throughout the church a culture of prevention that does not tolerate any form of abuse: abuse of power or authority, of conscience or spirituality, of sexual abuse'. Leo's statement also exalted the importance of a free, independent press, saying: 'Wherever a journalist is silenced, the democratic soul of a nation is weakened. 'Defending free and ethical journalism is not only an act of justice, but a duty for all who aspire to a strong and participatory democracy.' The comments from the pontiff cut a stark contrast with some other bishops, including from Leo's native US, who have criticized news media reporting on the church clergy molestation and cover-up scandal that has victimized countless children across the world. They also come after clergy-molestation survivors' groups expressed concern over Leo's 8 May election to succeed the late Pope Francis as the leader of the globe's nearly 1.5 billion Catholics. Those concerns stemmed in part from when Robert Prevost – Leo's birth name – was leading the midwestern US chapter of the Augustinian religious order. In that 2000, that chapter stationed an Augustinian priest named James Ray in a friary that was adjacent to an elementary school, nine years after the clergyman had been prohibited from working around children because of accusations that he had molested minors. Then, after he became the bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, beginning in 2015, three women told Prevost directly that they had allegedly been abused as minors by two local priests – but the accusers said they had no evidence any meaningful investigation into their claims ensued. The Vatican has said that Prevost was not the official who authorized Ray's living arrangements at the friary in Chicago, Leo's home town. With respect to the case in Chicalayo, church officials have said Leo handled the case within canonical norms but that the Vatican agency which investigates clerical sexual abuse cases found insufficient evidence to substantiate the accusers' allegations. Leo himself had not discussed Catholic clergy molestation cases until Friday's performance of Proyecto Ugaz in Lima, Peru. The stage production pays tribute to journalist Paola Ugaz, who spent years investigating abuse scandals involving the influential Catholic organization colloquially known as the Sodalitium and was met with litigation as well as death threats. Francis took the extraordinary step of dissolving the Sodalitium in January, about three months before his death. According to the Associated Press, survivors of abuse by the Sodalitium credit Leo with arranging a key meeting with his predecessor that triggered a Vatican investigation leading to the organization's dissolution. As Leo's statement put it, Ugaz and her colleagues carried out their work with 'courage, patience and commitment to the truth'. 'Your fight for justice is also the church's fight,' Leo's statement added. 'A faith that does not touch the wounds of the human body and soul has not yet understood the gospel.' The pope's statement said it was urgent for the church to renew its 'commitment to protect minors and vulnerable adults'. The statement also called on journalists to 'not be afraid'. 'Through your work, you can be builders of peace, unity and social dialogue,' Leo's missive said. 'Be sowers of light in the shadows.'

Economist

2 days ago

• Economist

MAGA devotees are split over going to war with Iran

EVEN HIS critics admit that Tucker Carlson offered a riveting podcast performance on June 18th when he grilled Senator Ted Cruz about his zeal for bombing Iran. Did Mr Cruz really believe that the Bible's command to 'bless' the nation of Israel required America to join Binyamin Netanyahu's war? Did Mr Cruz know basic facts such as the population and ethnic make-up of the country whose rulers he wants to overthrow? The Republican senator from Texas shifted uncomfortably, accused Mr Carlson of having an 'obsession' with Jews and later dismissed his 'gotcha' questions.