Sealing the pope’s condo. A gathering of cardinals. White smoke and bells rung. These are just a few of the occasions that happen as soon as a pontiff has died and whereas a new pope is chosen.
It’s all half of a lengthy historical past of custom dictating what happens now following the death of Pope Francis on Monday.
Pope Francis died on the age of 88, the Vatican confirmed to the general public on Monday, capping the tip of a tenure seen by some as one of the extra progressive within the Roman Catholic Church.
The Pope died following well being challenges over current months, together with hospitalization a number of weeks in the past for pneumonia and a complicated lung an infection, which required excessive ranges of oxygen and blood transfusions.
The quick subsequent steps dictate that when a pope dies, the camerlengo, or chamberlain — at the moment Irish-born American cardinal Kevin Farrell — should certify the death and seal the papal condo with crimson ribbon and seals.
Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell seals the door to the papal bed room and studio on the Vatican after the announcement of the death of Pope Francis, Monday, April 21, 2025.
Vatican Media by way of AP, HO
The dean of the School of Cardinals then summons the members for the funeral, presiding at a funeral mass — and with Pope Francis, some of these will look totally different than previously.
“Pope Francis has made some distinctive and in some methods, streamed down and non-conventional choices identical to he did distinctive, non-conventional issues throughout his papacy,” Emma Anderson, a classics and spiritual research professor on the College of Ottawa, mentioned in an interview.
Amongst these “distinctive” choices was not to be buried the place most pontiffs have been, beneath St. Peter’s Basilica, as a substitute selecting to be buried in St. Mary Main Basilica, the place his favorite icon of the Virgin Mary, the Salus Populi Romani, is situated.
In accordance to the basilica’s web site, the Holy Crib is additionally situated right here, which comprises 5 items of sycamore wooden mentioned to have been half of the crib upon which Child Jesus was laid.
Following Francis’s death, his coffin shall be transferred to St. Peter’s for public viewing earlier than the funeral mass and burial. The interment should happen between the fourth and sixth day after his death.
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9 days of official mourning, referred to as the “novendiali,” should then happen.
Throughout that point, the cardinals arrive in Rome for a conclave.
A conclave is the formal, secret gathering the place cardinals collect to elect the subsequent pope.
The conclave should start 15 to 20 days following the “sede vacante,” often known as the “vacant See” when the pope dies, although it could happen earlier if cardinals agree.
Whereas it is the School of Cardinals that elects the pope, of the 252 present cardinals, simply 135 meet a cutoff of being 80 years of age or youthful, in accordance to statistics supplied by the Vatican press workplace.
Of these 135, a whole of 108 have been straight appointed by Francis, with the rest named by the late Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II.
Those that don’t meet the cutoff can nonetheless contribute within the varied congregations prior to the conclave, and can be elected pope though they’re not half of the conclave.
Pilgrims carrying a cross make their means to the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Sq. on the Vatican after Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Joseph Farrell introduced the death of Pope Francis, Monday, April 21, 2025.
AP Photograph/Alessandra Tarantino
However when the conclave begins, the 135 cardinals are locked away inside the Vatican till they elect the brand new pontiff.
“It’s one of one of the best examples of direct democracy we’ve,” Anderson mentioned.
“Each vote counts and the votes are completed after prayers are made and of course, the entire conclave is supposed to be underneath the sort of aegis of the Holy Spirit, it’s supposed to God, form of by means of the Holy Spirit guiding the church to choose one of the best candidate.”
The cardinals should take an oath of secrecy, declaring they’re conscious they may very well be excommunicated in the event that they reveal something that takes place in the course of the conclave.
The primary vote usually happens within the afternoon within the Sistine Chapel after the preliminary mass, but when no pope is elected, two ballots shall be held within the morning and two within the afternoon every day till a pontiff is chosen.
A day’s break is taken if nobody is named after the third day of votes.
“There’s prayer, there’s discernment, there’s dialog, there’s dialogue after which they take a vote,” mentioned Reid Locklin, affiliate professor of Christianity and tradition at St. Michael’s School within the College of Toronto.
Three cardinals verify every poll to guarantee it’s stuffed out accurately and browse out every identify to be counted, with outcomes then introduced.
A two-thirds vote is wanted and if not achieved, the ballots are then pierced with a needle and thread, which is then knotted and positioned on a tray and one other spherical of voting is ready.
On the finish of every voting session, the pierced ballots are burned in a cylindrical range with chemical cartridges added to guarantee the color of the smoke.
If black smoke pipes out of the Sistine Chapel’s chimney, no pope has been chosen, but when white smoke billows forth, there is a new pontiff.
He is launched from the loggia overlooking St. Peter’s Sq. with the phrases “Habemus papam,” which suggests “We’ve a pope,” who then emerges to give his first blessing.
Who may very well be the brand new pope?
Whereas the conclave is held in full secrecy, there was hypothesis about who may very well be named the subsequent pontiff.
With Francis having named 108 of the cardinals voting, it is doable the subsequent pope might maintain comparable values to his.
There’s additionally the likelihood that simply as political change has taken place in democracies all over the world over current years, it might within the conclave as nicely.
“I believe the cardinals have to be pondering that they’re electing a pope who’s going to be pope in a new political world,” Locklin mentioned.
“They is perhaps in search of a regular hand. They is perhaps in search of a prophetic voice…. You form of think about that it’s going to be half of what they’re taking a look at is the world and saying, ‘Who’s the pope that the world wants proper now and we’ve received to attempt our greatest,’ figuring out that it is the Holy Spirit in the end that may make the judgment however who can do this work.”
Although any baptized Roman Catholic male is eligible, solely cardinals have been chosen.
In accordance to The Related Press, cardinals Pietro Parolin and Matteo Zuppi of Italy, Marc Ouellet of Canada, Christoph Schoenborn of Austria and Luis Tagle are amongst those that may very well be named.
— with information from The Related Press
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