Conclave to Elect New Pope to Begin on May 7, Announces Holy See

Vatican City – 28 April 2025

The Holy See Press Office has confirmed that the Conclave to elect the 267th Successor of St. Peter will commence on 7 May 2025, following the period of mourning for His Holiness Pope Francis. The announcement came after the fifth General Congregation of the College of Cardinals, held on Monday within the walls of Vatican City.

With this decision, the Church prepares once more to enter the sacred enclosure of the Sistine Chapel, where centuries of prayer, deliberation, and divine trust converge upon a single task: to discern, in the frailty of human voice, the call of the Holy Spirit.

As the smoke rises and the bells toll, the world will watch — but what transpires within those hallowed walls belongs not to the eyes of men, but to the heart of God.

The Nature of a Conclave: Silence, Prayer, and Discernment

The word “Conclave” stems from the Latin cum clave — “with key” — a reference to the ancient practice of locking the cardinal electors away, secluded from all external influence, until they have fulfilled their sacred duty. In this enclosure, neither ambition nor politics are meant to hold sway; only prayer, reflection, and the trembling responsibility of choosing the Bishop of Rome.

The conclave itself is governed by strict regulations outlined in Universi Dominici Gregis, the Apostolic Constitution promulgated by St. John Paul II and subsequently revised under Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. These statutes define not only the procedure but also the spiritual disposition expected of the electors.

Only cardinals under the age of 80 on the day the Apostolic See falls vacant are eligible to vote. As of now, 116 cardinal electors are expected to participate. Each must swear an oath of secrecy and fidelity before the conclave begins — a solemn promise that any violation would incur automatic excommunication.

The electors are bound not merely by external law but by an internal imperative: to seek, beyond personal preference, the good of the Church. In the words of Cardinal Ratzinger, before he himself became Pope Benedict XVI, they must resist “the dictatorship of relativism” and seek the enduring Truth who is Christ Himself.

The conclave is an exercise in humility: an admission that even princes of the Church must surrender their wills to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit.

The Setting: The Sistine Chapel

No setting could be more fitting — or more daunting — than the Sistine Chapel, where the frescoes of Michelangelo seem almost to breathe the judgement and mercy of God.

Above the heads of the cardinals soars The Last Judgement, a vision of Christ in glory, surrounded by saints and angels, separating the blessed from the damned. Every glance upward is a reminder: the choice they are about to make will echo through the centuries, and will be measured not merely by history, but by eternity.

At the far end, Michelangelo’s depiction of The Creation of Adam captures the tender, electrifying moment when the hand of God imparts life to man — a fresco that speaks also of this moment in the life of the Church, when a new Petrine ministry will be given life, through human hands moved by divine grace.

The chapel will be meticulously prepared for the conclave: electronic jamming devices installed to prevent outside communication, and two ballots taken each morning and evening, until a candidate receives a two-thirds majority.

Between ballots, the cardinals pray together, eat together, reflect in their simple rooms within the Domus Sanctae Marthae, and — above all — listen.

How the Pope Is Elected

The voting process is solemn and ordered:

• Each cardinal receives a ballot paper inscribed with the Latin words:
  Eligo in Summum Pontificem — “I elect as Supreme Pontiff…”
• Each elector writes, in secret, the name of his chosen candidate.
• One by one, the cardinals approach the altar, holding up their folded ballot, and placing it in the urn.
• After each round, the ballots are counted and scrutinised. If no cardinal receives the necessary two-thirds majority, another vote is held.
• After each unsuccessful round, the ballots are burned with a chemical substance that produces black smoke (fumata nera), signalling to the world that no Pope has yet been chosen.
• When a Pope is elected, the ballots are burned in such a way that white smoke (fumata bianca) emerges — a sign of joy to the waiting Church.

Then comes the ancient announcement: Habemus Papam — “We have a Pope.”

The newly elected Pontiff is asked two questions:

1. Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff?
2. By what name shall you be called?

Only after the Pope accepts and announces his name does he emerge upon the Loggia of Blessings overlooking St. Peter’s Square, to offer his first Urbi et Orbi blessing to the city of Rome and to the world.

A Time of Prayer, Not Politics

Though the secular media often portrays the conclave as a political contest, for the faithful, it is something infinitely deeper.

It is a moment of surrender.

It is the Church once more gathering in the upper room, awaiting the descent of the Holy Spirit. It is the successors of the Apostles falling to their knees, acknowledging that the Church is not a human institution, but a divine mystery, born from the wounded side of Christ.

No interviews are given. No speeches are broadcast. Within the Sistine Chapel, there is only prayer, whispered conversations, and ballots. It is a moment of rare silence in an age intoxicated with noise.

The Church asks the faithful around the world to join in prayer: for wisdom, for unity, for the discernment of a shepherd who can guide Peter’s barque through the storms of our time.

The Qualities Sought in the Next Pope

Who shall be chosen?

The cardinals do not seek a ruler of an empire, nor a celebrity, nor a mere administrator. They seek, above all, a father:
— A man of prayer, whose heart beats with the heart of Christ.
— A man capable of speaking to the wounded world with conviction and compassion.
— A man humble enough to kneel before God, and courageous enough to stand before kings.

In the words of the late Pope Benedict XVI:
“The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.”

So too the next Pope must be made not for ease, but for greatness — the greatness of holiness, not ambition.

A Threshold of Grace

As the bells of Rome toll the passing of one papacy and prepare to ring the beginning of another, we stand at a threshold of grace.

It is easy to forget that every Pope — from Peter to the present — is first and foremost a sinner redeemed by grace. He is not chosen for his perfection but for his willingness to let Christ lead him.

The conclave reminds us:
— That the Church is alive, not because of human strategies, but because of the Spirit.
— That Christ still walks among the candles and altars of His Church, whispering, “Feed my sheep.”

In these days, we are invited not to speculate but to pray. To fast. To lift our hearts and minds heavenward, asking not for the Pope we desire, but for the Pope the Church needs.

For in the end, the choice is not ours.
It is God’s.

Come, Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of your faithful. Enkindle in them the fire of your love.