How Popes are chosen: inside the secretive 2025 Vatican Conclave

Australian Community Media

Cardinals will gather behind closed doors in the Sistine Chapel from 7th May to elect the 267th pope in a centuries-old ritual known as the papal conclave. Here's what happens and why.

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00:00From the 7th of May, 135 cardinals will be locked inside the Sistine Chapel for the 2025

00:10Papal Conclave, a secretive election that will decide the next leader of the world's 1.4 billion

00:17Catholics. While any baptized Catholic male can technically be chosen, in practice,

00:29the Pope is now almost always elected from within the College of Cardinals. The electors

00:34in this conclave hail from 71 countries, up from 48 in 2013 when Pope Francis was chosen,

00:42reflecting the Church's increasingly global reach.

00:45I think we're going to find someone who supported Pope Francis, who is in touch with his legacy

00:52and wants to continue it, but we're not going to find anybody like Pope Francis, there's

00:56just nobody like him.

00:58The process, which dates back over 800 years, begins with a public mass before cardinals

01:04take an oath of secrecy and are sealed inside. The first vote can happen that same evening.

01:11From day two, four ballots may be held daily, and it continues until a candidate secures a

01:16two-thirds majority. White smoke from the chapel chimney signals a decision has been made.

01:25Historically, conclaves have lasted anywhere from 10 hours to nearly three years, though recent

01:31elections, including of Pope Francis in 2013, wrapped up in just two days.

01:37As Pope? I'd like to be Pope. That would be my number one choice.

01:42The term conclave comes from the Latin conclavus, meaning with a key, reflecting the literal

01:49lockdown of the chapel to ensure secrecy.

01:56that would look at and this

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