Cardinals did not select a new pope in the first secret vote of the papal conclave Wednesday, a result indicated by billowing black smoke from the world’s most-watched chimney. The proceedings are set to continue Thursday.
Earlier Wednesday, the cardinals walked while chanting in procession to the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, where they swore oaths of secrecy and sealed the doors. They are to remain sequestered, deliberating and casting rounds of votes, until the new leader of the Catholic Church is selected. When a successor to Pope Francis is chosen by at least a two-thirds majority, a billow of white smoke will announce the moment to crowds massed in St. Peter’s Square and more than a billion Catholics around the world.
Here’s what to know:
- Some 45,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, according to a Vatican estimate.
- The secretive conclave process amounts mostly to a waiting game, even for reporters who are well sourced at the Vatican. The world will be watching for smoke signals — black meaning an election did not reach the two-thirds majority, white meaning it did — the only communication from inside.
- There was one vote on the first day of the conclave, with up to four votes on each following day. Pope Francis was elected in five rounds of voting, while his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI was elected in four. If this process follows a similar voting pattern, a decision would come Thursday.
- Arriving amid deep church division, this conclave is the most diverse and largest in history, and the least predictable in decades. Top contenders include Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, a moderate leader and Francis’s top diplomatic envoy since 2013, and Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle, seen as a natural successor to Francis and his reformist approach — but the list is long.
- In procession to the Sistine Chapel to begin the conclave, the cardinals issued a prayer to “evoke without delay the grace of the Holy Spirit so that one from among us might be elected a worthy pastor for the whole flock of Christ.” Once the chapel doors closed, nothing more could be seen by the outside world.
With ceremony and secrecy, the conclave for a new pope is underway
VATICAN CITY — As the cardinals entered the Sistine Chapel in procession Wednesday for the start of the conclave to pick the next pope, talk was swirling that the throne of St. Peter could go to a first pontiff from the United States. Just as many voices herald the chances of three Italians and a come-from-behind Spaniard serving in Morocco. A Filipino, a Frenchman, a Congolese and a long-monastic Swede are talks of the town, too.
Yet as all eyes wait for the billowing white smoke that signals Habemus Papam — “We have a pope” — the wisest watchers have a warning.
Nobody really knows who will be the next pope, at a time of deep church division.
The cardinals began entering the chapel shortly after 4:30 p.m. Those under age 80 — including nearly two dozen from countries that have never had a voice in a conclave before — will be sequestered for votes, released only to retire to their boardinghouse for meals and rest, until a new pope is chosen. Under the ceiling depicting Michelangelo’s outstretched God creating Adam, there will be no interpreters, no speeches, no lobbying (theoretically). There will be only prayer, chatter and votes.
In early evening, the streets in and around St. Peter’s Square were filled with thousands of people standing rapt, watching on huge screens as men in red prayed and prepared to enter the conclave.
The main street off the square, Via Della Conciliazione, bustling in recent weeks with tourists and pilgrims, had an unusual stillness and quiet as off the massive screens came Latin and soft organ music.
Leaning against a stone wall was the Gogo family, of Vancouver. Their trip to Italy randomly collided with Francis’s death and now the conclave.
Dan, 53, and Mary, 48, said they were not religious. But they were deeply moved watching a ritual “that means the world to so many,” Dan said. “It’s the tradition of it.”
Mary, who was raised Catholic but isn’t Catholic now, said she wanted to see a “pope who is similar to and builds on the last pope.” The family agreed they were watching something apart from their own lives. “I can feel the energy!” Mary said.
This is an excerpt from a full story.
The contenders aren’t campaigning — but some groups are
Theoretically, any baptized man could be chosen, although the next pope will surely come from among the princes of the church: its cardinals.
Some church watchers have argued that Pope Francis stacked the decks for a successor. He appointed 108 of the voting cardinals. But Vatican insiders say it is wrong to conclude that the cardinals picked by Francis will look for a carbon copy.
That said, names of papabili — or potential next popes — are circulating, including religious leaders from France, Myanmar, the Philippines, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Italy. Read about some of the contenders here.
Cardinals aren’t supposed to advocate for the job, and in interviews with The Washington Post, most demurred, saying they don’t want the nod. Swedish Cardinal Anders Arborelius, a Catholic convert in a Protestant-dominant country who spent decades in monastic life, said he was relieved when a friend told him an artificial intelligence search of his chances showed single digits.
But even if cardinals aren’t campaigning, others appear to be.
The influence and money of Western Catholic conservatives has been on display in the run-up to the conclave, including with a high-end website and thick, glossy, hard-copy “reports” on each cardinal paid for by traditionalist groups in the United States and Europe. Reuters reported that creators of the College of Cardinals Report were handing copies to cardinals in Vatican City.
The California-based Napa Institute, which advocates for free-market policies and traditional church teaching on marriage and reproductive issues, wined and dined cardinals in Rome at swanky locales with expensive meals and fundraising, according to the National Catholic Reporter.
Japanese Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi addressed the issue this week in Rome when reporters asked if politics was playing a role in the conclave: “No, I don’t think so. But maybe money. … It’s a very sensitive issue.”
Reuters noted that “young, progressive Catholics from northern Europe have penned an open letter, urging the cardinals to pick a man who will continue with Francis’ reforms.” Groups advocating for sex abuse victims have also put out reports with their views on cardinal-candidates.
Cardinals pray conclave will elect pope ‘whom the church and humanity need’
Reporting from the Vatican
Cardinals and faithful attended a morning Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on May 7, ahead of the start of the conclave for a new pope. (Video: Reuters, The Washington Post)
During a morning pre-conclave Mass on Wednesday, hymns echoed through the cavernous nave of St. Peter’s Basilica, as cardinals filed down the main aisle and a global array of priests, nuns and pilgrims filled the pews.
Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, said during his homily that he hopes the new pope will be the leader “whom the church and humanity need at this difficult and complex turning point in history.” At 91, Re leads the cardinals but is too old to vote in the conclave.
“Today’s world expects much from the church regarding the safeguarding of those fundamental human and spiritual values without which human coexistence will not be better nor bring good to future generations,” he said. “May the blessed Virgin Mary, mother of the church, intercede with her maternal intercession, so that the Holy Spirit will enlighten the minds of the cardinal electors and help them agree on the pope that our time needs.”
Ahead of the Mass, attendees waited in lines to go through security checks and enter the basilica on a breezy, cloudy morning, notably colder than during Pope Francis’s April 26 funeral. In the pews, the priests, nuns and pilgrims snapped cellphone photos and videos, although the mood was anticipatory and mostly reverent.
What is the conclave and how does it work?
The papal conclave is a centuries-old tradition, punctuated by religious rites and shrouded in secrecy.
Selecting a new pope is a centuries-old process involving rounds of secretive voting, speeches, prayers and a dose of political maneuvering. (Video: Sarah Hashemi, Joe Snell/The Washington Post)
On Wednesday 133 cardinals are expected to begin voting in with secret ballots, many having traveled to the Vatican from around the world. Most of them will stay in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, a five-story guesthouse built in 1996 to house church officials.
Voting is to take place in the Sistine Chapel, home to Michelangelo’s 500-year old frescos including “The Creation of Adam” and “The Last Judgement.” The chapel has been swept for listening devices and will have windows boarded up to ensure privacy. All those involved — including florists and drivers — have sworn an oath of secrecy.
During votes, cardinals sit in choir formation on either side of the chapel. Nine help with the voting, including three who will sit at a table holding urns where ballots are placed. Cardinals are urged to disguise their handwriting to maintain anonymity.
At the end of each vote, the cardinals burn the ballots, and activate a cartridge of chemicals that releases smoke through a chimney, signaling updates to the outside world. Black smoke means there is no majority, while white smoke means a successor has been found. A two-thirds majority is required for the election to conclude.
How long it will take is unclear, but there will be one vote held on the first day and four votes each day after that. If the Roman pontiff is not chosen in three days, the cardinals may pause for prayers and informal discussions for one day. If 33 ballots pass without a winner, a runoff occurs between the top two candidates.
Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis were both elected on the second day of voting.
How Pope Francis shaped the papal conclave to reflect a changing church
As cardinal electors from around the world retreat to the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican on Wednesday to begin the process of selecting the next pope, their ranks will mirror more than ever the changing global demographics of the Roman Catholic Church.
Over his 12-year pontificate, Pope Francis created 163 cardinals from nearly 80 countries, including some two dozen that had not seen their own cardinal before — Haiti, Myanmar, East Timor, Malaysia, Laos, Bangladesh, Sweden, Lesotho and others. As the first Latin American pope, known as the “pope of the peripheries,” he looked beyond the traditional power center in Europe, from which the church’s center of gravity has long been shifting.
Pope Francis died at the age of 88 on April 21, the Vatican announced, ending a historic chapter for the world’s largest Christian faith. (Video: Joshua Carroll/The Washington Post)
“Every time he appointed new cardinals, I had to run to my bookshelf and get the atlas to find out where most of these nations were, from where my new brother cardinals were coming from,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York and a cardinal elector, said last month on CNN. “He didn’t want any language, any racial background, any geographic area to be unrepresented in the life of the church. This is a legacy that’s phenomenal.”
This is an excerpt from a full story.
‘Habemus papam’ and other key terms of the conclave
The centuries-old process of choosing a new pope is underway. Here are some of the key terms you should know:
Conclave: The private meeting of Roman Catholic cardinals who vote to elect a new pope. The term comes from the Latin “cum clave” or “with a key,” referring to the fact that the cardinals are locked away and prohibited from communicating with the outside world until they choose a new pontiff.
College of Cardinals: A group of senior clergy selected by the pope to serve as his close advisors and principal assistants, as well as to pick the new one. Of the 252 members, only those who are younger than 80 at the time of the pope’s death are able to vote. This year’s college of cardinals is the most diverse in history, after Francis created 163 cardinals from nearly 80 countries during his 12-year pontificate.
Universi Dominici Gregis: The Vatican document governing conclave rules.
Sede vacante: The period after the pope’s death, when the throne of St. Peter is empty.
Papabile: An Italian term used to describe whether a person is considered worthy of being pope, taking into account their reputation, positions held and influence.
Extra omnes: Latin for “everybody out,” announced by the master of papal liturgical celebrations to ensure everyone leaves before voting takes place, leaving only cardinals inside the Sistine Chapel.
Fumata bianca and fumata nera: Italian for “white smoke” and “black smoke,” and used to indicate whether a new pope has been chosen or not. Black smoke means the cardinals have not yet reached a two-thirds majority. White smoke means a successor has been found.
Habemus papam: Latin for “We have a pope,” the traditional words used by the cardinal protodeacon to announce the election’s conclusion.
Room of Tears: The room the new pope goes to be fitted with the papal garments he will wear at his first appearance.
Urbi et Orbi: Latin for “To the city and the world,” which is the apostolic blessing the new pope will deliver from the Loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica.
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