This week, 133 Catholic cardinal voters Choose a new pope in a secret and the origin of centuries ritual called conclave. Wednesday, voters – among the senior officials of the church – will be locked up inside the Vatican sixtine chapel to organize as many voting series as necessary to select the next pontiff.
Here’s what you need to know about the process and how long it could take.
When does the Papal 2025 conclave start?
THE conclave Starts on Wednesday 7 to 16 days after The death of Pope Francis.
It is one of the oldest methods to elect a head of state that is still used today, and its basic protocols have barely changed for 800 years.
In order to become a pope, a candidate only has to be Catholic and male. However, for centuries, the popes were chosen from the Catholic cardinals, the senior church officials.
The conclave takes place in the Sistine Chapel, behind sealed doors. With all the Vatican staff involved in the process, the cardinal voters take an oath of secret and the chapel is swept away for listening devices.
The 133 voters participating this time can have a voting series in the afternoon of the first day of the conclave, which consists of two ballots. To be elected Pope, a candidate must collect two thirds of the votes plus one. If the first round is not conclusive, the vote continues in a second day.
From the second day, there are two series of voting every day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
If there is no two -thirds by majority after three days of voting, the process is interrupted for a day to allow cardinals to pray and discuss their options.
How long have conclaves to choose new popes in the past?
There is no time limit set for the duration of the duration of a conclave. Cardinal voters continue to vote until a majority of two thirds and more is reached.
The shortest conclave ever recorded was in 1503, when it only took the cardinals 10 hours to choose the Pope Pius III as a new pontiff.
The longest conclave ever recorded lasted almost three years.
The election of a successor to the Pope Clement IV in 1268 dragged for so long – around 1,000 days – that the inhabitants of the city of Viterbo, where he was, locked the cardinals in the room where they had gathered until they made a decision.
This is where the name is always used for the process of selecting a new Pope – “Conclave”, which results in “under Lock and Key” – comes.
After this marathon conclave, Pope Gregory X was finally elected in September 1271.
How long should the Papal 2025 conclave last?
There is no way to predict how long a conclave will take, but the advice may be taken from recent history.
The last three popes were elected in two or three days.
In 2013, Pope Francis was elected after five ballots held over two days. In 2005, Pope Benoît XVI was elected after four ballots. In 1978, Pope John Paul II was elected more than two days after eight ballots.
Why does the Papal conclave use white smoke?
After each voting cycle, the paper ballots are burned. If a pope has not been elected, Black smoke rises of the chimney above the chapel. If a pope has been elected, white smoke increases.
Initially, only black smoke was part of the Conclave tradition, rising from the fireplace following ballots after an unsuccessful voting series.
White smoke was used for the first time in 1914, when the cardinals decided that light smoke should announce the selection of a new pope, Georgtown University reported.
Now, to ensure that the result of each ballot is clear, the chemicals are burned along the ballots each turn to color the smoke in black or white.
contributed to this report.
