More than a hundred Cardinals are descending on the Vatican today on the eve of their historic and highly secretive meeting to elect the new Pope.
The conclave has been the tried and tested method to select the Pope since 1276 and will see 133 cardinal electors enter the Sistine Chapel for a private election process that only ends when a new pontiff has been chosen.
Each cardinal was met with a barrage of camera flashes and pundits thrusting microphones before them as they approached the Vatican today, but none said a word about the upcoming proceedings.
This afternoon, the cardinals will make themselves comfortable in their rooms before holding the last of their near-daily meetings in anticipation of the voting.
Discussions so far have covered everything from the Vaticans finances to abuse scandals and Church unity – and, of course, the profile of the next pope.
They normally stay in the Vaticans Santa Marta guesthouse, which has en-suite bathrooms and hotel-style room service, but with representatives from 70 countries across five continents, this conclave is the largest and the most international ever.
As a result, some of the cardinals will be housed at Santa Marta Vecchia, a building next door usually used to accommodate Vatican officials.
The death of Pope Francis on April 21 immediately triggered preparations for the conclave, widely seen as the most secretive democratic process in the world.
The cardinals selected to participate in the conclave – derived from the Latin cum clave, or with key – are sworn to silence and will be banished from the Catholic Church should they break that vow.
The Vatican announced late yesterday that it would cut the phone signal within the tiny city-state from 3:00pm on Wednesday until a new pope is elected, while the cardinals themselves cannot take any communication devices into the Vatican.
Pope Francis – an energetic reformer from Buenos Aires, who helped open up the Church during his 12-year-long papacy but was accused by critics of failing to defend key Catholic doctrine – appointed around 80 per cent of the current cardinal electors.
But experts caution they may not choose someone to follow in his footsteps, with some suspecting the next pope may be chosen to take the Church on a more conservative, traditionalist path.
Now, on the eve of the hotly anticipated conclave, heres a breakdown of how the process unfolds.
East Timorese cardinal Virgilio do Carmo da Silva (C) gestures next to members of the press as he arrives for a congregation meeting at The Vatican, on May 6, 2025
Cardinal Virgilio do Carmo da Silva arrives for the meeting of the General Congregation of Cardinals, in Vatican City, 06 May 2025
Faithful walk with a cross on Via della Conciliazione street near the Vatican, a day prior to the start of the conclave in Rome on May 6, 2025
Chilean Cardinal Fernando Natalio Chomali Garib is surrounded by media as he arrives at the Vatican for a College of Cardinals meeting on May 06, 2025 in Rome
Cardinal Fernando Garib reacts, ahead of the conclave to elect the next pope, as seen from Rome, Italy, May 6, 2025
Cardinal Peter Ebere Okpaleke arrives for the meeting of the General Congregation of Cardinals
Cardinal William Seng Chye Goh arrives for a general congregation meeting ahead of the conclave to elect the next pope, as seen from Rome, Italy, May 6, 2025
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa arrives for the meeting of the General Congregation of Cardinals
Cardinals at morning Mass in St. Peters Basilica, Vatican City, in 2005 before sequestering themselves in the Sistine Chapel for the beginning of the conclave to elect a new pope
Preparation
TODAY
Even before ballots are cast, the wheels of tradition have begun to turn.
There will be 133 cardinal electors, all of whom must be aged under 80 years old. There were 135 set to take part in the conclave but two withdrew for health reasons.
Ahead of the conclave, all the Cardinals move into the Santa Marta guesthouse and Santa Marta Vecchia inside the Vatican.
The Cardinals could remain inside the Vatican, moving back and forth from the Sistine Chapel and their accommodation, for months – there is no time limit on the election process.
They are sworn to secrecy and cannot take any phones, recording devices or communication equipment with them – they are effectively sealed off from the outside world.
Roughly 100 Vatican support staff – from confessors and translators to doctors and cooks – have already sworn an oath of secrecy in the Pauline Chapel, pledging total silence about the proceedings under the penalty of automatic excommunication.
WEDNESDAY – CONCLAVE BEGINS
Tomorrow, the cardinal electors take part in a morning mass in St Peters Basilica at the Vatican.
Each will be clad in cardinal dress – a scarlet cassock, white rochet, scarlet mozetta (short cape), and a pectoral cross with red and gold cord and ring.
From 3pm, the Vatican plans to use signal jamming around the Sistine Chapel and the residences to prevent electronic surveillance or communication outside the conclave, with the Vatican gendarmes overseeing the security measures.
The cardinals then gather in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace at 4:15pm and invoke the assistance of the Holy Spirit to make their choice.
They proceed at 4:30pm to the Sistine Chapel, where the election will be held and which will have been swept for secret recording devices.
The cardinal electors take an oath promising that, if elected, they will conduct the role faithfully – and again vowing secrecy.
The master of ceremonies gives the order extra omnes (everybody out) and all those not permitted to vote leave the Sistine Chapel.
At this moment, the conclave is in session.
Cardinal Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla speaks to the media, ahead of the conclave to elect the next pope, as seen from Rome, Italy, May 6, 2025
Cardinal Mario Aurelio Poli arrives for a general congregation meeting ahead of the conclave to elect the next pope, as seen from Rome, Italy, May 6, 2025
Cardinal Jose Tolentino de Mendonca arrives for a general congregation meeting ahead of the conclave to elect the next pope, as seen from Rome, Italy, May 6, 2025
Nuns walk with a cross at St Peters Square, a day prior to the start of the conclave, in the Vatican on May 6, 2025
Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello arrives for a general congregation meeting ahead of the conclave to elect the next pope, as seen from Rome, Italy, May 6, 2025
Cardinal William Seng Chye Goh arrives for a general congregation meeting ahead of the conclave to elect the next pope, as seen from Rome, Italy, May 6, 2025
The election of a new Pope is the most secretive democratic process in the world, conducted by more than a hundred cardinals behind closed doors
Election
The masters of ceremonies distribute ballots to the cardinal electors.
Lots are drawn to select three to serve as scrutineers, three infirmai to collect the votes of cardinals who fall ill and three revisers who check the ballot counting by the scrutineers.
Cardinals are given rectangular ballots inscribed at the top with the words Eligo in Summum Pontificem (I elect as supreme pontiff) and a blank space underneath.
Electors write down the name of their choice for future pope, preferably in handwriting which cannot be identified as their own, and fold the ballot paper twice.
Each cardinal takes turns to walk to the altar, carrying his vote in the air so that it can be clearly seen, and says aloud the following oath: I call as my witness Christ the Lord, who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who before God I think should be elected.
The electors place their folded paper on a plate, which is used to tip the ballots into a silver urn on the altar, in front of scrutineers. They then bow and return to their seats.
Those cardinals unable to walk to the altar hand their vote to a scrutineer, who drops it in the urn for them.
If there are cardinals who are too sick to vote, the infirmari collect their ballot papers from their bedsides – and may even write the name of the candidate for them if necessary – in a special locked urn and bring them back to the chapel.
Once all ballots are collected, scrutineers shake the urn to mix the votes up, transfer them into a second container to check there are the same number of ballots as electors and begin counting them.
Two scrutineers note down the names while a third reads them aloud, piercing the ballots with a needle through the word Eligo and stringing them together. The revisers then double-check that the scrutineers have not made any mistakes.
If no one has secured two-thirds of the votes, there is no winner and the electors move straight on to a second round.
There are two pairs of votes per day – morning and afternoon – until a new pope has been elected.
The ballots and any handwritten notes made by the cardinals are then destroyed, burnt in a stove in the chapel – which immediately becomes the most closely watched stove in the world.
Its chimney emits black smoke if no pope has been elected and white smoke if the Catholic world has a new pontiff.
The smoke is turned black or white through the addition of chemicals.
It took just two days to elect Pope Francis, Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, in 2013
Be the first to commentBe one of the first to commentDo you think the next pope will continue Francis’ reforms or reverse them?
If voting continues for three days without a winner, there is a day of prayer, reflection and dialogue.
If after another seven ballots there is no winner, there is another day of pause.
If the cardinals reach a fourth pause with no result, they can agree to vote only on the two most popular candidates, with the winner requiring a clear majority.
But in theory, if neither candidate wins a clear majority, the conclave could continue indefinitely.
The longest conclave in history lasted 34 months, from the death of Clement IV in November 1268 until the election of Gregory X on 1 September 1271.
But in modern times, none has lasted longer than the five days – and 14 rounds of voting – it took to elect Pius XI in 1922.
It was the farcical 1268 conclave which led to the tradition of locking up cardinals until they decide.
Then, locals in Viterbo, 50 miles north of Rome, grew so irritated by the epic proceedings that they restricted cardinals to a diet of bread and water and even removed the roof of the church.
Once elected, Gregory Xs new rules said cardinals would have rations cut if they failed to decide within days. Modern conclaves tend to be far speedier.
The conclave to elect the late Pope Francis 12 years ago lasted just two days. To win, a candidate must attract a two-thirds majority.
The next pontiff is unlikely to have youth on his side. Cardinals have a record of picking elderly popes.
Theres a famous saying that runs, Young cardinals vote for old popes, on the basis they dont want anyone blocking their career path for years.
Upon the death of John Paul II in 2005, after 26 years, it is said cardinals deliberately turned to Joseph Ratzinger, 78, to avoid another long papacy.
