Following the death of Pope Francis on 21 April 2025, the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Catholics have entered a period of mourning and expectation. Today, 7 May 2025, marked by the ringing of the Vatican bells, the College of Cardinals gathers in the Sistine Chapel and “locks with a key” in the secretive ritual known as the conclave. In the coming days, their ballots—burned each evening to produce black or white smoke—will signal whether a new leader has emerged.
The roots of papal elections lie in the earliest centuries of the Church, when Rome’s clergy and laity chose their bishop by acclamation or compromise. It was only in 1059 that Pope Nicholas II’s decree confined the choice exclusively to the College of Cardinals, reducing secular meddling and formalizing an inner circle of electors.
Image: Pope Nicholas II
Centuries of power struggles prompted still stricter rules. After a three-year vacancy from 1268–1271, Pope Gregory X’s 1274 bull Ubi periculum first mandated the enclosure of cardinals without outside contact—conclave derives from the Latin cum clave, “with a key.” Later popes refined voting procedures, and by 1621 a secret ballot and a required two-thirds supermajority were enshrined.
Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=593698
Today, only cardinals under the age of 80 may vote. Housed in the Domus Sanctae Marthae hotel, they process through up to four ballots per day in the Sistine Chapel, each preceded by prayers such as the Veni Creator Spiritus and an oath of secrecy. After each count, ballots are burned: black smoke means “no decision,” white smoke—and the cry of “Habemus Papam!” on St Peter’s balcony—announces a new pope.
Image: Pope Francis March 13, 2013 after his election as the new pope. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25132755
Today, only cardinals under the age of 80 may vote. Housed in the Domus Sanctae Marthae hotel, they process through up to four ballots per day in the Sistine Chapel, each preceded by prayers such as the Veni Creator Spiritus and an oath of secrecy. After each count, ballots are burned: black smoke means “no decision,” white smoke—and the cry of “Habemus Papam!” on St Peter’s balcony—announces a new pope.
Image: The Domus Sanctae Marthae seen from the dome of St. Peter's Basilica https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24994943
As the conclave begins today, all eyes turn to the hidden votes and sacred smoke signals of this ancient ritual. In the end, it is a blend of tradition, theology, and procedure that will determine who takes up the cross once more to guide the Catholic Church into its next chapter.