2025 papal conclave begins, with cardinals set to pick new pope to succeed Pope Francis

Catholic cardinal electors from five continents gathered Wednesday inside the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican for the 2025 conclave to select a new pope. The conclave began exactly 16 days after the death of 88-year-old Pope Francis, who led the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics for 12 years. 

It is impossible to say how long the conclave will last, but many observers expect the 133 cardinal electors to choose a new pontiff within a few days.

Earlier Wednesday, cardinals held a final mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, led by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battisa Re.

“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,” Re told the cardinals. “This is also a strong call to maintain the unity of the Church… a unity that does not mean uniformity, but a firm and profound communion in diversity.”

Re said the cardinals should pray for “a pope who knows how best to awaken the consciences of all and the moral and spiritual energies in today’s society, characterized by great technological progress but which tends to forget God. Today’s world expects much from the church regarding the safeguarding of those fundamental human and spiritual values without which human coexistence will not be better nor bring good to future generations.”

After a gathering in the Apostolic Palace, the most diverse group of electors ever, from at least 70 different countries, walked in procession from the palace’s Pauline Chapel into the adjoining Sistine Chapel, where the conclave will be held.

The process to select a new pope is shrouded in secrecy, and the cardinal electors filed up one by one to take an oath inside the chapel just before the conclave got underway, vowing to preserve that secrecy.

“In a particular way, we promise and swear to observe with the greatest fidelity and with all persons, clerical or lay, secrecy regarding everything that in any way relates to the election of the Roman Pontiff and regarding what occurs in the place of the election, directly or indirectly related to the results of the voting,” the cardinals swore, in Latin. “We promise and swear not to break this secret in any way, either during or after the election of the new pontiff, unless explicit authorization is granted by the same pontiff.”

The cardinal electors are forced to give up their digital devices during the conclave.

Dozens of less senior Vatican staff and clergy who will play some part in the conclave had already taken a similar vow of secrecy.

After the last of the cardinal electors took the oath of secrecy, a declaration of “extra omnes” — or “everyone out” — by Archbishop Diego Ravelli, the Vatican’s master of ceremonies, was the signal for everyone else to leave the Sistine Chapel so the work of the conclave could begin. The chapel’s doors were then locked from the inside.

The cardinals were likely to hold one round of voting before an evening prayer on Wednesday. If no pope is chosen, black smoke from the chapel chimney will indicate a continuation of the conclave, and voting will resume on Thursday.