Conclave to elect pope starts today: This is what happens in the secret gathering

133 cardinals to vote

The gathering of cardinals, who will decide who the new pope will be, is known as a conclave. The conclave will see 133 cardinals from the 135 eligible to vote, deliberate and choose the next leader of the Catholic Church behind closed doors. Two cardinals confirmed they will be unable to attend the conclave for health reasons. The right to vote is reserved for cardinals under the age of 80.

Who are the cardinals

The largest cohort of cardinals eligible to vote (75) falls between the ages of 71 and 79 followed by those aged between 61 and 70 (42). There are 16 cardinals aged between 51 and 60 and only two aged between 45 and 50. The vast majority of elector cardinals (108) were appointed by Pope Francis. There are five veterans who were appointed during John Paul II’s papacy and 22 by Pope Benedict XVI. Europe with 53 cardinals has the largest representation, followed by 23 from Asia and 20 from North and Central America. Africa has 18 cardinals; South America has 17 and Oceania has four.

Sistine Chapel

The cardinals will meet inside the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, where voting for a new pope has been held since 1513. The chapel has been closed to the public since last week to allow for preparations to be made for the conclave.

A vow of silence

The cardinals will enter the Sistine Chapel in procession invoking the assistance of the Holy Spirit to guide them in their choice. They then take a vow of silence and the master of ceremonies orders anyone who is not an elector to leave the chapel. The first vote takes place then.

Threat of excommunication

Throughout the process, the cardinals will reside at the Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican’s hotel, and all communication with the outside world is prohibited. Anyone breaching the rules of secrecy risks excommunication.

Voting and a smoking chimney

Up to four voting rounds can take place every day—two in the morning and two in the afternoon. The result after every voting round is announced to the world by a smoking chimney that is assembled above the Sistine Chapel for the event. Black smoke signals no decision has been reached and white smoke signals the election of a new pope.

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Two-thirds support

The election has no candidates since cardinals just write down the name of any person, they feel is best suited to be pope. The person who obtains two-thirds support of cardinals present is elected pope. However, the chosen one will have to accept before the process is completed. If, after 33 voting rounds and 10 or 13 days, the two-thirds quorum is not reached, a run-off can take place between the top two contenders but a two-thirds majority is still needed for a pope to be elected.

No time limit

The conclave has no time limit—the process can be over in an afternoon or it can drag on for days, weeks or even years. The longest conclave in history was the one that elected Pope Gregory X in 1281. It lasted almost three years. But the most recent conclaves only lasted a few days.

Pope John Paul II’s election, which happened in October 1978, took eight voting rounds over three days, while the conclave that elected Benedict XVI in April 2005 took four voting rounds over two days. The March 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis took two days and five rounds of voting.

The chosen one

Although the cardinals may elect any baptised Catholic non-married male as pope, they have elected a fellow cardinal since 1389. However, if a lay person is chosen to become pope, he is first ordained bishop before formally taking over the papacy.

We have a pope

After the person elected pope accepts the role, the new pope is revealed to the world with the announcement ‘habemus papam’ from the balcony at St Peter’s Basilica. The camerlengo, in Latin, announces the name of the new pope and the name he would have chosen for his papacy.

The new pope then steps forward onto the balcony to deliver his blessing to the city of Rome, of which the pope is bishop, and the world. This is known as the urbi et orbi (city and the world). The last three popes have made it a tradition to deliver a short message. Francis had asked pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square to join him in offering a prayer for his predecessor Josef Ratzinger (who had resigned) and asked people to bless him before delivering the traditional blessing.