How will the Papal conclave this 2025 be done following the death of Pope Francis?
PAPAL CONCLAVE 2025 – Pope Francis had died, and this means that a new one has to take his place. How is this process done?
Pope Francis died at the age of 88 due to a stroke that led to a coma and caused his heart to fail. The world is mourning over the church leader’s passing, but amid the grieving, one reality must be faced: someone has to take the place left empty by Francis.
After the pope’s death, the Vatican’s traditional nine days of mourning, called the novendiales begin, while the election of a new pope begins between 15 to 20 days after the death.
How does the voting process work?
The voting process is known as the conclave, and the camerlengo, a cardinal in the Catholic Church, is in charge of organizing this election process.
Part of the preparation is for those cardinal electors who are under 80; they are to stay in the Santa Marta guesthouse inside the Vatican. They will not communicate with the outside world, record proceedings, or reveal the secrets.
On the morning of the conclave, cardinal electors will join mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. In the afternoon, cardinals wearing their choir dress of a scarlet cassock, white rochet, and scarlet mozetta will gather in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace and ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance as they make their choice.
They will then proceed to the Sistine Chapel. This is where the election will be held. They are to take an oath to conduct the role faithfully and vow secrecy.
During the election, the masters of ceremonies will be distributing ballots to the cardinal electors, with lots drawn to select three to serve as “scrutineers”, three “infirmarii” to collect the votes of cardinals who fall ill, and three “revisers” who check the ballot counting down by the scrutineers.
Cardinals will receive rectangular ballots where these words are written: Eligo in Summum Pontificem (“I elect as supreme pontiff”) with a blank underneath. In the blank is where they will write their choice, and it is advised that they write in handwriting that cannot be identified as their own.
The ballot will be folded twice, and one by one, they will walk to the altar with their vote and say this oath aloud: “I call as my witness Christ the Lord, who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who before God I think should be elected.”
Votes are taken each day, in the morning and afternoon, until one secures two-thirds of the votes. After each round of voting, the ballots are burned, and the color of the smoke it will emit will determine if there’s a new pope. If it’s black, no new pope has been chosen, and if it’s white, the church has selected a new pope.
The elected candidate will then be asked if he accepts the election, and if so, he will choose a name to take as pontiff. The cardinals will pledge obedience, and the new pope will be led to the Room of Tears and be dressed in a white cassock and skull cap, and red slippers.
The dean of cardinals will step onto the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and declare, “I announce to you a great joy: We have a pope.”
Cardinal Tagle is among the strong contenders as a potential successor to the pope. There are also cardinals such as Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Cardinal Peter Erdo, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Cardinal Peter Turkson, Cardinal Sergio da Rocha, Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonca, Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, and Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu.
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