The papal conclave, the secret electoral process to choose the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church, begins on Wednesday, bringing cardinals around the world to select the 267th Pope.
Since the death of Pope Francis on April 21, a total of 220 Cardinals, the highest ranking clergy of the Church, have gathered in Rome to cry the loss of the ancient pontiff and begin the secret conclave.
In general, 133 Cardinals will vote during the conclave, the more voters in history, with 108 of them designated by Pope Francis. All cardinals under 80 are eligible to participate in the electoral process.
The clouds pass on the Basilica of San Pedro in the Vatican, on May 6, 2025.
Gregorio Borgia/AP
Most cardinals come from Europe, including 17 voters from Italy, five from Spain and five from France. There are 16 Cardinal voters North America, including 10 of the United States. In addition, there are four from Central America, 17 from South America, 18 from Africa, 23 of Asia and four from Oceania. Argentina, the country of origin of Francis, has four cardinal voters.
The 220 Cardinals are expected to attend a Mass in the Basilica of San Pedro on Wednesday morning at 10 am local time. The voting cardinals will go to the Pauline chapel and then process the Sistine Chapel at approximately 4:30 pm local time, where the vote will take place.
Cardinal electors nations of origin
Google Earth / Vatican.va
All cardinal voters will make a secret oath before starting to vote twice a day, twice in the morning and twice at night. The vote will begin when the ceremony teacher says “Omnes Extra”, or “Everyone”, at approximately 5 pm local time. The vote will continue until two thirds of the cardinals have agreed to a Pope.
The ballots are burned after each vote and the smoke will emanate from the chimney that was built on the Sistine Chapel. The black smoke means that a decision has not been reached and the vote will continue, while the white smoke will mean that a new sacred leader of the Church has been confirmed.
A Pope could be chosen as soon as the first vote, or the process could continue for days. Since 1831, no conclave has lasted more than four days.
Up to four voting rounds generally take place in one day. If a clear choice has not emerged after three days, the vote is suspended for 24 hours to allow the time of cardinal voters to be reflected. Then seven other rounds are carried out, followed by another break, and so on.
If no Pope is chosen after 33 or 34 votes, usually approximately 13 days, then a new rule introduced by Pope Benedict XVI decrees the two main candidates as determined by the previous ballots will participate in a second round vote. If candidates are members of the conclave, they cannot vote in the runoff but are present for it. Whatever the candidate who receives the necessary majority of two thirds of the votes is the new Pope.
Chapel seven on the eve of the conclave in the Vatican, May 6, 2025.
Simone Resolution/Vatican Media/AFP through Getty Images
Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, the Argel archbishop, told ABC News that it would be “unexpected” if the conclave spends Friday.
Similarly, Baghdad Cardinal, Louis Raphael Sako, told Vatican journalists last week that he expects a “short conclave.”
“It will be a brief conclave, two, three days,” said Sako, as cited by the Ansa news agency in Italy.
When asked if he had an idea who would vote for to become the new Pope, Sako replied: “I have a very clear idea but I can’t say it.”
The names of the cardinals who seem to be leaders for the papacy have been turning since Francis’s death.
Any Baptized Catholic man is eligible to occupy Francis’s place, but experts said Pietro Parolin, the secretary of state of the cardinal, and Luis Tagle, the archbishop of Manila in the Philippines, are the main contestants.
The officials and personnel assigned to the conclave practice an oath in the Pauline chapel, first lodge of the Apostolic Palace, city of the Vatican, May 5, 2025.
Vatican Media/EPA-EFE/Shuttersock
An American cardinal, Robert Prevost, also began to emerge as a leader, according to Father James Martin, an ABC papal taxpayer.
In general, Martin said that the cardinals will seek “someone who is holy, someone who is a good evangelizer who can proclaim the gospel and someone who is a good manager.”
“Those three things are difficult to find in a person,” Martin said Monday at ABC News Live.
During the conclave, the registration technology of any kind is prohibited, and the technicians verify that there are no secret installed errors or other similar devices within the Sistine Chapel or the adjacent areas. Cardinals cell phones will be taken at the beginning of the conclave and will be returned after the choice of the new Pope.
Christopher Watson and Phoebe Natanson of ABC News contributed to this report.
