The Road to the Vatican: Inside the Process to Select the Next Pope

After Pope Francis’ passing on April 21st, Vatican City has entered the interregnum (“time between rulers”), also known as sede vacante (“vacant seat”). Here’s a look at the process used in the Catholic Church to elect the next Pope.

Following the Pope’s death is the novendiales, a traditionally observed nine days of mourning, and 15-20 days after the Pope’s death, the camerlengo, a cardinal within the Church, organizes the conclave to elect the next Pope. The cardinals meet daily to discuss what challenges the Church faces leading up to the election. Of the hundreds of cardinals, only 120 can become electors in the conclave, with only cardinals younger than 80 eligible to participate. The electorate holds a mass before voting begins.

At this point, the conclave enters the Sistine Chapel and each elector takes an oath of discretion. The ballots used in the conclave read “in summum pontificem” (“I elect as supreme pontiff”) and are cast into urns. Three appointed cardinals count and read aloud the votes, repeating the process until one candidate receives two-thirds of the votes. Burned ballots are used to create smoke signals for the public to observe, with white smoke indicating that the election has finished and black smoke indicating that another round of voting will occur.

Finally, the dean of the College of Cardinals consults the elected candidate. If he accepts the position of Pope, he picks a papal name and dresses in papal attire. On the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the senior cardinal deacon announces, “Habemus Papam” (“we have a pope”), revealing the new Pope by his chosen name. Many organizations, such as the College of Cardinals Report, create papabili (“pope-able”) lists of the most favored candidates, though attempting to predict the decision of the conclave is difficult. Theoretically, any baptized Catholic man is eligible, but all Popes since 1378 have been cardinals, with most being European. 

Some commonly discussed papabile picks are Cardinals Peter Erdo, Marc Oullet, Pietro Parolin, Robert Sarah (who would become the first African Pope), and Luis Tagle (who would become the first Asian Pope). Tagle is also on the younger side of papabili at 67, with most being 70-80. Older candidates are favored, not only for their experience in the Church, but because it allows them 10-20 years in the position, as Popes are appointed for life. The world will be waiting in anticipation of the conclave’s decision in the coming weeks, whatever that decision may be.