There are elections and then there are elections. Why does this one then, garner so much interest and fanfare?

It could be because the election to the Holy See (derived from the Latin sedes for seat), which gives the Roman Catholic church a new leader or Pope, has enough secrecy and intrigue to warrant a movie – which in fact it has.

How far back does the papal election go?

Catholics believe the papal elections are an apostolic tradition – that is to say, they go back to Jesus Christ’s 12 apostles who are said to have elected, from among themselves, Peter the fisherman as their leader.

Hence the term the Chair of St Peter for the Papacy, and the name, The Ring of the Fisherman, accorded to the papal seal.

With the spread of Christianity and the centre of the Church moving to Rome, the pope also became the head of state of Vatican City thus giving the election significant heft.

The elections close to the current format have been underway since the thirteenth century. From 1274, the elections were held ‘cum clave’, meaning ‘with a key’, to denote that the voters would be secluded in a locked room. Thus, the English name ‘conclave’ for the present-day papal elections.

Voters at different times in history were bishops, noblemen, the common people, clergymen from various dioceses and cardinals. Sometimes voters took months and even years to agree on the next Pope.

According to Britannica.com, when the cardinals failed to elect a pope more than two years after the death of Clement IV (1265–68), the local magistrate locked the electors in the episcopal palace. The roof was removed, thus exposing the cardinals to the elements, and they were allowed nothing but bread and water until they made their selection, Gregory X (1271–76).

In 1274, a constitution was promulgated that called for the cardinals to meet in closed conclave and imposed strict regulations to guide the election; Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303) ordered this decree to be incorporated into canon law, the site says.

From which regions do the cardinals come?

Over time, churches and dioceses with significant number of followers sprang up in Asia, South America, and Africa besides the earlier ones in Spain, Portugal and eastern Europe. The conclave became a global meeting although it took 450 years for a non-Italian Pope to be elected in 1978.

In its current form, the participants in the conclave are red-robed cardinals (the namesake bird was named after the cardinals and their attire) of archdioceses and dioceses spanning the globe. Thanks to Pope Francis’s active ordaining of cardinals in far-flung corners of the Church, the College of Cardinals now has significant representation from Asia (17 per cent), Africa (13.3 per cent) and South America (12.6 per cent), although Europe still has the lion’s share (39.3 per cent).

What is the eligibility for becoming a pope?

In theory, any baptised male Catholic can be elected pope, but the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) web site points out that current church law says he must become a bishop before taking office; since the 15th century, the electors always have chosen a fellow cardinal.

Is there a time limit within which to elect a pope?

No. There is no set time limit for the cardinals to make a final decision, and the longest it took in recent times to elect a Pope was in 1903, when Pope Pius X was chosen after five days. In the 13th century, the papacy was vacant for three years before Gregory X was elected.

Do cardinals have to meet eligibility criteria to vote?

Of the 252 members of the College of Cardinals at the time of Pope Francis’s death, only the 134 cardinal electors below the age of 80 will participate in the voting. They are however, permitted to vote for a colleague who is above 80. To be elected pope, a candidate requires a two-thirds majority or 90 votes.

Having been advisors to the Pope or Bishops of Rome, each cardinal brings a theological, liturgical, social and political view of how the papacy and the Roman Catholic church can best serve its flock.

How is the new Pope announced to the world?

The cardinals vote by secret ballot, saying a prayer and dropping the twice-folded ballot in a large chalice, according to the USCCB website. Four rounds of balloting are taken every day until a candidate receives two-thirds of the vote.

The result of each ballot is counted aloud and recorded by three cardinals designated as recorders. If no one receives the necessary two-thirds of the vote, the ballots are burned in a stove near the chapel with a mixture of chemicals to produce black smoke that goes up a chimney and tells the world of the status of the election, as per the site.

When a cardinal receives the necessary two-thirds vote, the dean of the College of Cardinals asks him if he accepts his election. If he accepts it, the ballots of the final round are burned with chemicals producing white smoke to signal to the world the election of a new pope.

The new pope chooses a papal name and is dressed in papal vestments before proceeding to the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica. Before his appearance, the senior cardinal deacon, (currently French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti) makes the traditional announcement from the balcony: ‘Habemus Papam’ (which means, ‘We have a pope.’).

What drives cardinals’ choices?

For all the secrecy and tradition, the conclave is essentially charged with using careful discernment in choosing a leader who is inspirational, exemplary, diplomatic, compassionate and sensitive to the needs of his flock. To help them decide, they need just one tool but a powerful one that. They only need to ask themselves “Is this Divine Will?”

Published on April 30, 2025

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