In a process that can last days, weeks, or even years, popes are elected by cardinals under strict oaths of silence.

“Conclave” the film may have introduced moviegoers to the spectacular ritual and drama of a modern conclave, but the periodic voting to elect a new pope has been going on for centuries and created a ...

Following the death of Pope Francis, the Catholic Church has chosen a date to elect its new leader, in a process virtually unchanged in 800 years. The system is known as the ‘Papal Conclave,’ and is a ...

Black smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney Wednesday evening, indicating that no pope was elected on the conclave’s ...

When the Sistine Chapel's white smoke rose on May 8, it crowned not a campaigner, but a conciliator. What cardinals inside the conclave say they sought — and what they found in Robert Francis Prevost, ...

The first dinner of the conclave was, in a word, forgettable. "Rather plain," recalled Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey. After hours cloistered inside the Sistine Chapel on May 7, with the ...

The death of Pope Francis at the age of 88 has drawn renewed attention to Conclave, which was set within the cloistered world of the Vatican during the election process for a new Pope. According to ...

Pope Leo XIV answers a question from a journalist aboard his flight back to Rome from Lebanon, Dec. 2, 2025. Credit: CNS photo/Lola Gomez In a short press conference on the flight from Beirut to Rome ...

From the longest and shortest elections to the origin of the required vow of secrecy, here are some facts about the centuries-old process. NBC Universal, Inc. Here are some facts about conclaves past, ...