What time is the conclave? How the Catholic Church will elect the next pope explained

Later in the day, they will then take an oath of secrecy before the Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations proclaims “extra omnes,” (meaning “Those who are extra, leave”).

The moment will be the last time the cardinals are seen until the new pope is elected, which requires a two-thirds majority from the electors present.

They are anticipated to file into the Sistine Chapel at around 4:45pm local time (12:45am AEST May 8).

Where is it held?

The electors will be sequestered in the iconic Sistine Chapel, which was built in the 16th century.

Most conclaves have historically been held in Rome, with some taking place outside the Vatican walls.

On 15 occasions they took place outside Rome and the Vatican altogether, including in Viterbo, Perugia, Arezzo and Venice in Italy, and Konstanz, Germany, and Lyon, France.

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Who gets to participate?

The conclave is open to all cardinals under the age of 80, which means there will be 135 eligible to choose the next pope.

However, two cardinals, Antonio Cañizares Llovera and Vinko Puljic have withdrawn, citing health reasons.

Another cardinal, Giovanni Angelo Becciu – who had previously claimed he could participate in conclave even though he is listed by the Vatican as a “non-elector” – has also withdrawn his request to join the upcoming conclave.

Becciu, once one of the most powerful figures in the Vatican, was ordered by Pope Francis in 2020 to resign the “rights and privileges” of a cardinal after he became embroiled in a Vatican financial scandal.

Becciu was convicted by a Vatican court in 2023, but has appealed.

About four-fifths of the cardinals who will elect the next pope were appointed by Francis.

How is the pope chosen?

The new pope must receive at least two-thirds of the votes of the gathered cardinals.

That means if 133 electors are involved, the next pope will need to receive at least 89 votes (two-thirds of 133 is about 88.67).

There is a single ballot on the first day, followed by two ballots in the morning and the afternoon on subsequent days.

After every ballot, a smoke signal will be sent from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney – black smoke if no pope has been chosen, white smoke if one has.

How long do conclaves take?

As long as they need. The voting goes on until somebody is chosen, and the cardinals remain in seclusion (the word “conclave” is derived from a Latin phrase meaning “with a key”, denoting the literally locked-up status of the electors during the process).

Before 1274, there were times when a pope was elected the same day as the death of his predecessor.

After that, however, the church decided to wait at least 10 days before the first vote. Later that was extended to 15 days to give all cardinals time to get to Rome.

The quickest conclave observing the 10-day wait rule appears to have been the 1503 election of Pope Julius II, who was elected in just a few hours, according to Vatican historian Ambrogio Piazzoni.

In more recent times, Pope Francis was elected in 2013 on the fifth ballot, Benedict XVI won in 2005 on the fourth and Pope Pius XII won on the third in 1939.

In the 13th century, it took almost three years – 1006 days to be exact – to choose Pope Clement IV’s successor, making it the longest conclave in the Catholic Church’s history.

Who can be pope?

There is no requirement that a pope be a cardinal, but that has been the case for centuries.

The last time a pope was elected who wasn’t a cardinal was Urban VI in 1378.

He was a monk and archbishop of Bari.

While the Italians have had a stranglehold on the papacy over centuries, there have been many exceptions aside from John Paul II (Polish) in 1978, and Benedict XVI (German) in 2005, and Francis (Argentine) in 2013.

Alexander VI, elected in 1492, was Spanish; Gregory III, elected in 731, was Syrian; Adrian VI, elected in 1522, was from the Netherlands.