UPDATE: Black smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel chimney just after 8pm in Rome(3pm ET), indicating that a new Pope has not been chosen in the first vote by the Cardinal Electors.
This is not surprising, since it’s been over 500 years since a Pope was chosen in the very first vote.
Sixteen days after the late Pope Francis passed, after a season of feverish articulating and lobbying, 113 Catholic Cardinals went in a procession into the Vatican’s famed Sistine Chapel, and the door was closed to the world.
There, under the immortal Michelangelo frescoes in the ceiling, the Cardinals will deliberate and vote on who is to be the next Pope.
The eyes of the world will be glued to the chimney above the chapel, where black will signal that no choice has been made, but the awaited white smoke will at some point herald to the world ‘habemus papam’ (We have a Pope).
The Conclave has begun. The College of Cardinals have processed out of the Pauline Chapel into the Sistine a chapel where the Conclave will begin shortly. pic.twitter.com/TbdDgpNQ3y
— Raymond Arroyo (@RaymondArroyo) May 7, 2025
ABC News reported:
“The papal conclave, the secretive election process to elect the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church, commences on Wednesday, bringing cardinals from all over the world to select the 267th pope.
Since the death of Pope Francis on April 21, a total of 220 cardinals — the church’s highest-ranking clergy — have gathered in Rome to mourn the loss of the former pontiff and begin the secret conclave. Overall, 133 cardinals will be voting during the conclave, the most electors ever, with 108 of them appointed by Pope Francis.”
“[…] All of the cardinal electors will take an oath of secrecy before beginning to vote twice daily, two times in the morning and two times in the evening. Voting will commence when the Master of Ceremony says ‘extra omnes’ — or ‘everyone out’ — at approximately 5 p.m. local time. The voting will continue until two-thirds of the cardinals have agreed on a pope.
[…] A pope could be elected as soon as the first ballot, or the process could continue for days. Since 1831, no conclave has lasted for more than four days.”
Watch: the doors of the Sistine chapel are closed to the world.
NOW – Papal conclave begins, Sistine Chapel. pic.twitter.com/HWPKr6KmMO
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) May 7, 2025
“If no pope is elected after 33 or 34 votes — generally about 13 days — then a new rule introduced by Pope Benedict XVI decrees the two leading candidates as determined by previous ballots will engage in a runoff vote. If the candidates are members of the conclave, they cannot vote in the runoff but are present for it.”
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