The opening day of the Conclave in the Vatican for the election of the next Pope:
The decision is unlikely to be made today, but perhaps in the next couple of days. The Catholic Church certainly knows how to conduct spectacular ceremonies: with a long procession of cardinals, the Mass Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice began in St. Peter’s Basilica, marking the start of the Conclave. Presiding over the rite is the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re. Present in the Basilica are 220 concelebrating cardinals from around the world, joined by another 120 prelates, bishops, and priests participating in the Mass.
The new Roman Pontiff will be the 267th, and his election, down to the finest details, is governed by the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis established by Pope John Paul II.
The liturgical service at 4:30 p.m. Italian time, precedes the entry of the 133 cardinal electors into the Sistine Chapel. To reach it, the Apostolic Constitution specifies that the cardinals must gather in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace, next to the Sistine Chapel, “in choir dress,” and then proceed solemnly in procession to the Sistine Chapel, invoking the Holy Spirit by singing Veni Creator.
Who votes and how the voting works:
Only cardinals under the age of 80 may vote. Over 50 of the voting cardinals are European, with Italy having the largest number. Ten come from the United States, 23 from Asia, 21 from Central and South America, and 18 from Africa.
Cardinals must surrender their phones; the chapel has been swept for bugs and equipped with jamming devices. Each cardinal will swear an oath of secrecy. The Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations will proclaim “extra omnes” — everyone out. All present, except for the cardinal electors and a small number of officials and medical staff, will leave the chapel, and the doors will be locked.
No speeches are allowed inside the chapel — all discussions have already taken place in prior meetings. The first vote will happen Wednesday afternoon. After that, there will be four votes each day until a candidate achieves a two-thirds majority: two in the morning and two in the afternoon. The cardinal electors will break for lunch around 12:30 p.m., then return to the Sistine Chapel in the afternoon. At the end of the day, they will pray Vespers together and return to Casa Santa Marta for dinner. Since Santa Marta has only 120 rooms, additional accommodations have been arranged nearby. If no result is achieved after three days, the cardinals may take a day off for prayer and reflection.
Each cardinal will be assigned a desk, with a pen and a ballot marked at the top Eligo in summum pontificem (“I elect as Supreme Pontiff”). They write the name of their chosen candidate, fold the ballot in half, and place it in a bronze urn. Each day, three scrutineers and three revisers are chosen by lot.
The smoke signals:
The ballots are counted and recounted, then pierced with a needle — through the word eligo — to form a bundle. They are burned in a stove with chemicals added: black smoke if no result, white smoke if a new pope has been elected. There are only two smoke signals per day — at the end of the morning and afternoon voting sessions — unless a pope is elected earlier.
The smoke emerges from a chimney installed on the roof. When white smoke appears, the bells also ring, signaling to the crowd outside that habemus papam — we have a pope.
What happens to the new pope?
The Dean of the College of Cardinals asks the chosen candidate: “Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff?” If he accepts, he must choose his papal name. The cardinals then pledge their obedience. He is led into the so-called “Room of Tears,” where he changes from his scarlet cardinal’s robes into the white papal vestments. Usually, three sizes — small, medium, and large — are prepared in advance. This time, it’s believed that the Vatican will reuse vestments from previous conclaves, in keeping with the late Pope Francis’s desire for simplicity: the papal tailor was not commissioned to make new garments.
The new pope is then led to the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to greet the crowd.
How long will the conclave last?
It could last just a few hours or, in theory, several weeks. The hope among cardinals in recent days has been for a conclave lasting “two or three days.”
