Black smoke pours from the Sistine Chapel on day 2 of the conclave. We answer your questions on how the next pope will be elected.

Yahoo

08-05-2025

The conclave to select the successor to Pope Francis began Wednesday in Vatican City, where cardinals from around the world gathered to take part in the mysterious process that has been used for centuries to choose the next leader of the 1.4 billion-member Roman Catholic Church.
Francis died on April 21 at the age of 88, setting into motion a highly choreographed series of events and rituals that culminated in the papal conclave.
Here's a rough guide to how it works.
There are 252 cardinals, but only those under the age of 80 are allowed to participate in the conclave. In this case, 133 cardinals are taking part.
Even with the age cutoff, the average age of this conclave is 70. There are just 15 members who are under the age of 60 and only one who is younger than 50.
This year's conclave has members from more than 70 countries, including 10 from the United States.
Before the conclave began, the cardinals took oaths of secrecy and turned over their cellphones before checking into one of two Vatican guesthouses, where are being sequestered without access to television, newspapers or the internet.
The 133 cardinals convene behind the closed doors of the Sistine Chapel to cast their ballots in front of Michelangelo's 'Last Judgment.'
A two-thirds majority is needed to declare the winner. If no candidate reaches that threshold, the voting continues, with the conclave holding two votes in the morning and two in the afternoon per day until the next pope is found.
Yes and no. The Academy Award-winning film directed by Edward Berger and starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini and John Lithgow gets many of the details right, according to experts and church observers. But it also gets some of them wrong — like receiving information from outside the conclave.
The ballots are burned after each vote, and the smoke from them will emanate from a chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel.
Chemicals are added to make the smoke black or white.
Black smoke means no candidate reached the two-thirds majority, and the voting will continue.
White smoke means a candidate received the two-thirds majority, and a new pope has been chosen.
There is no time limit for the conclave to elect a pope, but the last three have taken three days or less:
Pope Francis was elected after five ballots over two days.
Pope Benedict XVI was elected after four ballots over two days.
Pope John Paul II was elected after eight ballots over three days.
In order to become pope, a candidate needs only to be baptized Roman Catholic and male. But for centuries, only cardinals have been chosen for the papacy.
And nearly all have been from Europe. Francis, who was from Argentina, was the first pope born outside of Europe in more than 1,200 years, giving hope to candidates from other places, like Africa and Asia.
The intense secrecy of the conclave process means there's only so much forecasting that can be done ahead of it.
But here are some popular names that may get consideration.