If you want to make sure you don’t miss the result of the first vote when it comes, here’s our live stream showing the chimney on top of the Sistine Chapel: This conclave is billed as the largest and possibly the most unpredictable conclave to ever take place. So let’s take a look at the Vatican’s own statistics. There are 133 cardinals electors (well, technically there are 135, but two were too ill to attend) from 70 countries, up from 115 from 48 nations in the last conclave in 2013. The youngest one is Mykola Bychok, 45, from Ukraine; the oldest is Carlos Osoro Sierra, who turns 80 in less than two weeks. Those over 80 are not involved in the process. 107 of them were appointed by Pope Francis, 21 by Pope Benedict XVI, and five by Pope John Paul II. The successful candidate needs a two-third majority, 89 votes, to get elected. So, where do they come from? The highest national representation comes from Italy (17) ahead of the US (10), Brazil (7), Spain and France (5 each). Here is how it looks on the map: Right, we covered who the favourites are (and why they usually don’t win), so let’s take a look at who the electors are. To give you a better idea of space and where we are, here’s a handy visual. Santa Maria guesthouse, on the left, is where the cardinals sleep during the conclave; the Sistine Chapel is on the opposite side of St Peter’s Basilica. In preparation for the conclave, the chapel has been swept for bugging devices, with windows covered and signal jammers turned on to make sure no one interferes with the electoral process. Once we (eventually) get the new pope – announced with that famous phrase, Habemus Papam! – he will appear at the main balcony to be announced to the faithful in St Peter’s Square and the world, and we will learn about his new papal name. As the doors to the Sistine Chapel close, our attention now turns to the chimney on top of the chapel which we will tell us about the outcome of the votes taking place inside. Get used to this sight; we will spend a lot of time looking at it in the coming hours and days! The doors to the Sistine Chapel have now been locked. The formal election process starts here. After a brief meditation, the first vote is expected to be taken still this afternoon. Thereafter, four votes will be held each day until one candidate reaches a two-thirds majority, of 89 votes. Once the individual oaths are over, the master of pontifical liturgical celebrations is about to say “extra omnes” – everyone out. All those present except the cardinal electors and a handful of officials and doctors will now leave and the doors will be locked. Before entering the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday afternoon and swearing an oath of silence, some cardinals, who are required to surrendered their mobile phones as part of their sequestration from the outside world, scrambled to post messages on social media. “Today I enter the conclave without a cell phone,” Chomali Garib, a cardinal from Chile, wrote on X on Tuesday. Garib, who also posted of video of himself washing a white shirt, added that the responsibility of the election “overwhelms” him. Jean Paul Vesco, the Archbishop of Algiers, was more upbeat. He wrote on Facebook: “Tonight I enter the silence of the conclave, I can’t wait. This archaic 11th century institution is demonstrating an incredible modernity in the age of over-media, of social media and our digital addictions...no more phone or internet, the windows of our rooms are sealed. We will emerge with the proclamation: ‘ habemus papam’ (we have a pope). What an adventure indeed!” So, one last favourite I wanted to bring you the profile of is Pierbattista Pizzaballa of Italy. Since 2020, Pizzaballa has been the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, a crucial role in advocating for the Christian minority in the Holy Land. After Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, Pizzaballa offered himself as a hostage in exchange for children who were being held by Hamas in Gaza. He visited Gaza in May 2024 after months of negotiations. He would be expected to continue some aspects of Francis’s leadership of the church, but has made few public statements on controversial issues. Having said all of that, I offer you all these names and biographies to give you an idea on who the leading candidates are believed to be. But as the famous saying goes, “he who enters the conclave as pope, leaves it as a cardinal.” Favourite rarely wins. Once the doors close, anything can happen. Bologna archbishop Matteo Zuppi is another name on the short list of favourites. Appointed a cardinal by Francis in 2019, Zuppi is considered to be on the progressive wing of the church, and would be expected to continue Francis’s legacy, sharing the late pope’s concern for the poor and marginalised. He is (relatively) liberal on same-sex relationships. Two years ago, Francis made him the Vatican peace envoy for Ukraine, in which capacity he visited Moscow to “encourage gestures of humanity”. While there he met Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox church and Vladimir Putin’s ally. He has also met Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president. Peter Turkson from Ghana is also high on the list of the contenders, and he has just made his oath of secrecy. Here’s what Harriet and Sam say about him: He would be the first black pope in centuries. He has been vocal on issues such as the climate crisis, poverty and economic justice while affirming the church’s traditional positions on the priesthood, marriage between a man and a woman, and homosexuality. However, his views on the latter have loosened and he has argued that laws in many African countries are too harsh. He has spoken out on corruption and human rights. Cardinal Robert Sarah has just made his oath of secrecy. As Harriet and Sam explained: He is a traditional, Orthodox cardinal who at one time sought to present himself as a “parallel authority” to Francis, according to a Vatican observer. In 2020, he co-authored a book with the then retired Pope Benedict defending clerical celibacy that was seen as a challenge to Francis’s authority. He has denounced “gender ideology” as a threat to society, and has spoken out against Islamic fundamentalism. Another leading conservative candidate is Hungarian Peter Erdő. Here is his profile: Erdő has been a strong advocate for traditional Catholic teachings and doctrine. He would represent a big shift away from Francis’s approach. He is widely regarded as a great intellect and a man of culture. Erdő was a favourite of the late cardinal George Pell who believed he would restore the rule of law in the post-Francis Vatican. In 2015, Erdő appeared to align himself with Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, when he opposed Francis’s call for churches to take in migrants. The cardinals are now making individual oaths of secrecy, with some of the leading contenders leading the line, including Parolin (16:32), Tagle (14:00), and Robert Francis Prevost. Here is how Harriet and Sam profiled Prevost: Despite the Vatican’s longstanding opposition to the idea of a pope from the US because of the country’s superpower status and secular global influence, the moderate, Chicago-born Prevost is still one to watch. Created a cardinal by Francis in 2023, the former leader of the Augustinian order was also appointed by the late pope to the powerful Dicastery for Bishops, which oversees the selection of new bishops from around the world. Those senior roles, combined with the fact that he has significant missionary experience in Peru, having served as bishop of the northern city of Chiclayo, may go some way to redeeming him in the eyes of those who would not usually countenance the idea of an American pope. Here are some of the first pictures from inside the Sistine Chapel. The ceremony continues, with Parolin leading the prayers asking for “the spirit of intelligence, truth and peace” to “know your will and serve you with total dedication.” They are next going to make their oaths – first collective, then individual – swearing to complete secrecy about the process, and to never allow anyone to interfere with the election process. The Sistine Chapel has been specially prepared for the electors to conform with the rules of the process. As you can see on the stream, each cardinal gets allocated a desk, on which sits a pen and a pile of ballot papers with the words Eligo in summum pontificem (I elect as supreme pontiff) printed at the top. During the voting rounds, they write their preferred name, fold the paper in half and place it in a bronze urn. The ballot papers are counted and recounted before being threaded with a needle – piercing the word eligo – into a bundle. The papers are burned in a stove. If there is no result, chemicals are added to make the smoke black; if there is a successful candidate, the chemicals turn the smoke white. Just a reminder that you can watch the procession on the live stream at the top of this page. Neighbouring with the Sistine Chapel, Pauline Chapel is also where officials and staff assigned to work around the conclave took an oath of secrecy earlier this week, a key obligation for performing their role during the election process. The formal procession to the Sistine Chapel is starting now in the Pauline Chapel in the Vatican. You can follow the texts in Latin and Italian here. The procession will be led not by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re (as he is too old to take part in the conclave), but by Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, who is also one of the leading contenders to be selected as the next pope. Here is his profile, by Harriet Sherwood and Sam Jones: Parolin is seen as a moderate “continuity candidate”, as he was close to Francis. He has been the Vatican’s secretary of state since 2013, playing a key role in diplomatic affairs, including delicate negotiations with China and governments in the Middle East. He is regarded as a reliable and trusted papal representative by secular diplomats. In 2018, he was the driving force behind a controversial agreement with the Chinese government on the appointment of bishops, criticised by some as a sellout to the communist regime. Parolin’s critics see him as a modernist and a pragmatist who places ideology and diplomatic solutions above hard truths of the faith. To his supporters, he is a courageous idealist and avid proponent of peace. The sun has come out and pilgrims are beginning to file into St Peter’s Square ahead of the beginning of conclave. A huge group of pilgrims from Sardinia sang hymns as they walked along Via della Conciliazione, the main street connecting Rome with the Vatican. Waiting on the edge of the square was Cinzia Caporali and her husband, from Tuscany. They came to Rome to visit Pope Francis’ tomb at Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in the Esquilino neighbourhood, and are now eagerly waiting to hear who the new pope will be. “I hope it will be a continuation of Francis,” said Caporali. “He was for the marginalised people, and we need to make sure this continues. We don’t want to see the flashy richness of the church, this is no longer in fashion.” Caporali was living in Rome when the German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope in April 2005. “I was in a caffe not far away and people were shouting ‘fatto, fatto, fatto!’ (it’s done), then I went outside and saw the white smoke.” Let’s bring you the latest from our Rome correspondent Angela Giuffrida. Selecting a new pope has always been an arduous process, but some conclaves seemed to suffer more than others. It wasn’t always this way: in the past, letters, diaries and other writings by cardinals and their attendants gave revealing accounts of what happened in the meetings convened in order to choose a pope. Here, with the help of the historians Vanessa Corcoran of Georgetown University in Washington and Miles Pattenden of the University of Oxford, we look at some of the more noteworthy conclaves from the past. Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, is one of the 133 electors who will go into the Sistine Chapel in the next hour to start the process of selecting the pope. The 75-year-old posted a short video update on social media: This is the day we enter the conclave and I’m about to go into the Domus Sanctae Marthae, named after St. Martha, who took care of hospitality for Jesus. We leave here and go over to the Sistine Chapel every day for prayers and voting, but this is where we reside. I won’t be able to talk to you until you see the white smoke. Keep us in your prayers! We have now also added a live stream from the Vatican at the top of the page, showing St Peter’s Square and later the procession of the cardinals, which is expected to start in the next half hour. I will bring you all the key updates here. We will spend many hours in the coming days watching the chimney on the Sistine Chapel roof, waiting for that symbolic white smoke. So, for the first time in today’s blog, here it is: From conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, to migration, the climate crisis and schisms in the church, the honeymoon period for the new pope will be short. In the coming days, the Roman Catholic church will have a new leader, cheered by the faithful in St Peter’s Square. Once the prayers are over and the crowds have dispersed, what issues must the new pope grapple with? Church unity A key task will be to strengthen unity within the church amid growing polarisation in the world and different views and expectations within the church. Some observers believe there is a real risk of schism after 20 years in which there have been popes on either end of the spectrum: the traditional/conservative Benedict XVI, and the liberal/progressive Francis. International diplomacy The pope has an important role to play on the international stage, particularly to ensure that religion does not become a fault line. He will face ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East and Sudan plus the politically divisive issues of migration, the climate crisis, religious freedom and human rights. Sexual abuse The legacy of sexual abuse cast a long shadow over Francis’s papacy. He was slow to grasp the scale and systemic nature of the problem, and at first did not understand the pain and anger of survivors. That pain has not gone away, and the new pope’s approach will inevitably come under intense scrutiny. Governance The new pope will need to take decisions on governance within the church, including the pace of change and levels of inclusion regarding laity and women. He will need to make key appointments within days to get the new papacy up and running. Vatican finances There are two aspects to this for the new pope’s attention: general oversight and transparency, on which there was significant progress under Pope Francis but still more to do; and the unsustainable levels of deficit in the Vatican finances, which deteriorated during Francis’s papacy. Sexuality and identity Francis shifted the church’s dial on issues relating to sexuality and identity, condemning discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, meeting trans men and women and authorising the blessings of same sex couples. Francis’s standpoint prompted a backlash among traditionalists, and the new pope will be watched closely for his views. Read more about papal in-tray: While there is much trepidation in the Vatican over who will be the next pope, residents in Brugherio, a town in the northern Italian region of Lombardy are equally awaiting the outcome with bated breath. The town’s population is rooting for Luis Antonio Tagle, a cardinal from the Philippines, to be the successor to Pope Francis. Not because the cardinal, who is partial to a bit of karaoke, seems good fun, but because there is a link to the town: Tagle’s first cousin was the carer of the mayor’s grandmother. Mayor Roberto Assi said Violetta cared for his grandmother for 10 years until the elderly woman’s death in 2018, but the connection has remained strong. “We consider her to be part of the family,” Assi told the online newspaper, Prima Lamartesana. In fact, Violetta, who now lives in Milan, still joins the family to celebrate important occasions, such as Christmas, as well as his late grandmother’s birthday, which they continue to mark each year. Assi said that Violetta often speaks of her cousin, “the cardinal”, and that many in Brugherio hope he will be elected pope. Tagle, 67, is among the leading contenders, although he was accused of “heresy” by Catholic traditionalists after a video of him, filmed in 2019, singing John Lennon’s Imagine emerged on social media. A watchdog for victims of clerical sexual abuse has also accused him of mishandling child sexual abuse claims in the Philippines. It’s a wonder that Raniero Mancinelli, tailor to the last three popes, has had any time to cut any cloth over the past week given the amount of attention he’s been getting from the world’s press. The Guardian spoke to him in February, when Pope Francis was severely ill in hospital, but could hardly get a foot inside the door on Wednesday morning. “It’s been a little hectic,” said one of the tailor’s assistants. It is not guaranteed that Mancinelli, who owns Mancinelli Clero, a historic shop in Borgo Pio, just steps away from St Peter’s Square, will be tasked with dressing the new pope. There is another Rome rival and reports in the Italian press suggest that the Vatican has plenty of white cassocks and might well honour Francis’ message of frugality. Still, Mancinelli is not taking any chances. He has already been preparing the white vestments that might be worn by the next pontiff, and has cut small, medium and large versions just in case. There was a long queue of TV crews waiting to speak to Mancinelli, who was suited-up, with his tailor’s measuring tape draped over his shoulders as he showed them the material. The reporters have also lured curious tourists into the shop, wondering what all the fuss is about. Father Giuseppe, a customer of Mancinelli, understood: “This shop is famous because he is very good.” Asked which qualities he would like to see in the next pope, other than being well-dressed, Father Giuseppe said: “We need someone good, and someone strong, especially at this moment in time.” Let’s now go across to our Rome correspondent Angela Giuffrida to get an idea of what’s going on in the Vatican… If you’d rather get up to date on the pomp and the politics of the conclave, the process to elect Pope Francis’s successor, good news: we’ve got you covered. It is, as Guardian journalist Harriet Sherwood explains, an election rich in ceremony and ritual. Yet it can get very dirty too: cardinals lobbying in corridors and Vatican gardens; allegations of leaks to the media to discredit rivals; even the emergence of a video of one cardinal – a bookies’ favourite to be the next pope – singing ‘atheist anthem’ Imagine by John Lennon. As Michael Safi hears, the conclave comes at a particularly sensitive time for the Catholic church and the various factions vying for its control. Listen to Today in Focus here: One of the legacies of Pope Francis, who died last month aged 88, was to leave behind a widely diverse but divided college of cardinals, with some in harmony with the progressive church he promoted and others wanting to overthrow his changes and turn back the clock. The 133 cardinals with the power to vote have been getting to know each other and sharing visions for the future of the church during daily pre-conclave meetings since 28 April. However, the challenge of the task in hand appeared to be summed up by Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo, the archbishop of Jakarta, who was the last cardinal to arrive in Rome and was playing catch-up on Monday. “There’s a lot of confusion,” he told journalists after hearing addresses from 50 cardinals. “We have heard many voices, it’s not easy to draw conclusions.” The cardinals swear an oath to secrecy, as do all Vatican staff assisting them, from cooks and cleaners to drivers and medics. A sea of red and purple has filled St Peter’s basilica as the world’s cardinals and bishops gather for mass before conclave begins later on Wednesday. The 133 cardinals tasked with voting for a successor to the late Pope Francis are seated around the main altar of the packed basilica while the bishops are in the rows in front. The mass is being led by Giovanni Battista Re, the same Italian cardinal who led the funeral mass of Pope Francis. His homily was equally as passionate and direct. “We are here to invoke the help of the Holy Spirit, to implore his light and strength so that the pope elected may be he whom the Church and humanity need at this difficult and complex turning point in history,” he said. In a passage about love, he said Jesus’ love knew no limits and that love must characterise “the thoughts and actions” of all his disciples in order to “build a new civilisation”. “Love is the only force capable of changing the world,” said Re. In his homily – seen as a guiding message for the 133 cardinals set to take part in the conclave – Re called for the help of the Holy Spirit to guide cardinals in choosing the pope “whom the church and humanity need at this difficult and complex turning point in history.” He urged them to put aside “all personal considerations” and demonstrate love, “the only force capable of changing the world.” He also issued a strong call to “maintain the unity of the church,” not through “uniformity,” but their “communion in diversity.” He reminded cardinals that the election of a new pope is not just about “a simple change of people,” but a symbolic return of St Peter, the apostle, as he prayed for a pope “for the good of the church and of humanity.” He also recalled John Paul II’s description of the conclave as “a joint concern for the legacy of the keys of the Kingdom,” recalling his wishes that standing before Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel, the electors will be reminded of the “great responsibility of placing the great keys in the right hands.” Re said he hoped the new pope would “know best how to awaken the consciences of all,” and mobilise “the moral and spiritual energies” in societies, which occasionally forget God amid rapid technological progress. Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, is delivering his homily now; the last message to cardinals before they go into the process to elect the new pope. I will bring you the key quotes here. You can follow the mass live here: And you can follow the texts here. As the conclave day begins, the special mass – Mass for the election of a Roman Pontiff – is now starting in St. Peter’s Basilica, presided by the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re. He is not an elector himself – he is 91 years old so above the limit of 80 to take part in the vote – but will lead this morning’s prayers. You can follow all the texts from the mass here, in Latin, Italian and English. After the mass, the cardinals will return to Santa Marta, have lunch, and then start their proceedings in the Sistine Chapel. As it’s the first day of the conclave, the timing is slightly different than we will see in the following days (if, as anticipated, they are needed). So, here’s what to expect: At 10am Rome time, the cardinals will gather at St. Peter’s Basilica to take part in a mass Pro eligendo Romano Pontifice, the Mass for the election of a Roman Pontiff. At 3pm, mobile signal across the Vatican will be deactivated, with all devices taken away from the cardinals, as they are sequestered for the duration of the electoral process. At 4.15, they will start a procession to the Sistine Chapel, where they will start their proceedings approximately fifteen minutes later, at 4.30pm. Due to a late start, we expect only a single round of voting today, with the result to be announced with black or white smoke from the chapel’s chimney around 7pm. If they fail to elect the new pope today, they will return tomorrow morning, switching to four rounds of voting a day: two in the morning (10.30am, midday), and two in the evening (5.30pm and 7pm), for as long as needed. 133 Catholic cardinals will meet behind the closed doors of the Sistine Chapel for the first time today to decide who should be the 267th successor of Saint Peter, following the death of Pope Francis last month. One of the most fascinating electoral processes in the world, the conclave always attracts global attention – not just because of its global significance in choosing the next head of the Catholic church leading 1.4 billion faithful, but also because of its centuries-old traditions and mysteries. At around 4.30pm local time, the famous phrase “extra omnes” – all out – will be heard inside the Sistine Chapel telling everyone but the cardinals to leave the plenary, formally starting the secretive election process. We will bring you all the latest here. It’s Wednesday, 7 May 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live. Good morning.
Author: Jakub Krupa