By T.J. Muscaro
Contributing Writer
The election of the Catholic Church’s next pope is officially underway as a record-setting 133 voting cardinals from all over the world took an oath of secrecy and were locked in the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday evening.
At 9 p.m. local time, black smoke emanated from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, notifying the tens of thousands of faithful gathering in St. Peter’s Square that the first vote had been cast but had failed to reach the necessary consensus.
The next vote will be cast on Thursday morning.
The first day’s events began in St. Peter’s Basilica at 10 a.m. local time, with the Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff, led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals.
Like Pope Francis’ funeral Mass, this Mass, while primarily undertaken in Italian, integrated several of the world’s languages, including Latin, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Swahili and Mandarin Chinese.
Cardinal Battista Re said in his homily, which was translated in real time by the Vatican, that the upcoming vote was “an act of highest human and ecclesial responsibility,” and emphasized that this latest successor to St. Peter the Apostle must exemplify the love Jesus Christ showed his disciples and foster communion among the world’s clergy, peoples and cultures.
He also called those listening to pray that this successor will be someone who meets the needs of the world and church of today, and one “who knows how best to awaken the consciousness of all, and the moral spiritual energies in today’s society characterized by great technological progress, but which tends to forget God.”
Afterward, the cardinals had the opportunity to begin moving into the apartments in the Vatican’s Domus Sanctae Marthae, where they will stay for the duration of the conclave.
“The conclave is not a political tug-of-war, but rather a profoundly spiritual moment of continuity in the church’s more than 2,000-year history,” Ashley McGuire, a senior fellow with The Catholic Association, said in an email.
“The successor of St. Peter will have to be a man who can courageously unite the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics — who are facing challenges ranging from radical secularism and moral relativism to outright violent persecution — with clarity and compassion about the fundamental truths of our faith.”
New York City’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan, an avid social media user, said on social media platform X that he and other American cardinals were making their transition to the Domus from the Pontifical North American College, where they had been staying since arriving for Pope Francis’ funeral.
Standing outside the doors of the Domus, he sent a final video message letting his followers know that they would not hear from him until the white smoke is raised above the Sistine Chapel and asking them to continue to pray for him and his fellow cardinals over the next few days.
By 3 p.m. on Wednesday, cell phone coverage in the Vatican was expected to cease. The Vatican Governorate, which administers the world’s smallest country, announced that “all the transmission systems of the mobile phone telecommunications signal, present in the territory of the Vatican City State … will be deactivated.”
This signal drop is in support of the conclave’s security and secrecy requirements. Cell service will be restored “with the maximum speed permitted by the technology of the mobile operators” after the announcement of the next pope’s election.
The two previous conclaves were held in April 2005 and March 2013, making this the third to take place in the age of social media.
The cardinals’ official entry into conclave began around 4:30 p.m. by gathering in the Pauline Chapel. Leading the rite was Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the ranking member of voting-age cardinals.
Reciting the Litany of the Saints in Latin, cardinal electors – those under 80 – then processed into the Sistine Chapel, joined by Vatican officials. They processed in reverse order of seniority, beginning with the most-recently appointed cardinal deacon, followed by cardinal presbyters, and cardinal bishops.
Inside the chapel, each cardinal had a seat assigned to him. Outside, a Swiss Guard stood posted at every entrance.
A second hymn was sung.
At around 5 p.m., each of the 133 cardinals placed his hand on the gospel set up in the center of the chapel and took an oath binding him to “absolute secrecy regarding all details surrounding the election of the new pope, while promising to rebuff any attempts from outside to sway the election,” according to the Vatican news service.
The oath also commits each elector to fulfilling the Munus Petrinum — the mission of St. Peter, the first pope — if he is elected to be the next supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church.
Just after 5:40 p.m., everyone who was not a cardinal elector from the chapel left, and the doors to the Sistine Chapel were shut.
The results of the first vote were released around 9 p.m. local time.
The cardinals were to be released from the Sistine Chapel and retire to their designated residence at the Domus Sanctae Marthae for the night.
Cardinals to Vote Again Thursday
Only one vote is cast on the first day of the Conclave. Starting on Thursday, the cardinals will have four opportunities to vote each day.
According to the Holy See Press Office, onlookers should anticipate smoke from the first vote of the day at around 10:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m. EDT).
A two-thirds majority vote — equal to 89 of the 133 cardinal electors — is needed to elect the next pope.
All voting will be done via hand-written ballots.
After each vote, the ballots are counted and read aloud by three “scrutineers” — cardinals chosen by lot to count the ballots — who ensure the vote was carried out correctly and string the ballots together.
Three revisers — also chosen by lot — then check to ensure the count is accurate.
The ballots are burned after each vote, and that smoke will be used to notify the outside world of the result. White smoke means the necessary majority was reached. Black smoke means that the cardinals are still divided.
If black smoke rises after that first attempt on Thursday, another vote could be expected after 12 p.m., and then after 5:30 p.m., and then around 7 p.m., if necessary.
If no pope is chosen after three days, voting will be paused for a day of prayer, informal discussions, and a spiritual exhortation led by the senior cardinal deacon.
