As Vatican staff take oath of secrecy for 2025 conclave, some contentious issues await the new pope
Vatican City — All the Vatican staff who will be involved in the 2025 conclave to pick the late Pope Francis' successor — from the cleaners to the cooks and custodians — have taken their oath of secrecy. The punishment for leaking information about the ancient Catholic Church ritual is immediate excommunication.
The 133 cardinal electors tasked with electing the next pontiff will take their own oath on Wednesday, inside the Sistine Chapel, as the conclave gets underway.
They have all arrived at the Vatican for the gathering, and they've been seen this week going in and out of meetings every day, where they discuss the merits of the men among their own ranks — any one of whom could be chosen as the next pope.
From Wednesday, the cardinal electors will gather in the chapel, beneath Michelangelo's renowned Last Judgement fresco, to decide who should lead the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.
Among the issues that differentiate the presumed frontrunners for the job are some extremely controversial topics for Catholics, including exactly how far the church should open its doors — if at all — to people like Andrea Rubera, his husband, and their three children.
Conclave officials sign the oath of confidentiality at the Apostolic Palace, May 6, 2025, in Vatican City, ahead of the 2025 papal conclave to select Pope Francis' successor.
Simone Risoluti/Getty
Rubera, who has been in his same-sex relationship for years, told CBS News that "when Pope Francis died, I cried."
A decade ago, Rubera and his husband were struggling over whether they could raise their kids Catholic. Then he got a phone call.
"So I answered, and it was: 'Mr. Rubera, are you busy at the moment, because I see you are you are not answering my calls, and this is Pope Francis.'"
He recalled his surprise as the late pontiff asked if he could make time to talk. He did, and Francis encouraged the couple to behave like any other Catholic family. Rubera said he's worried that the next pope may not be as eager to welcome him and his family into the church.
"My personal fear is that our lives, our families, our rights, could be... canceled," he said.
Another big issue facing the next pope will be the role of women in the church. There has been fierce debate within the Catholic community for years about whether women should be allowed to become deacons, and eventually even priests. That door, even during the relatively progressive reign of Pope Francis, remained firmly closed.
But Kate McElwee, executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference, told CBS News that, "on this question, women are not going to wait much longer."
"Certainly there's a tipping point that we're facing," she said, predicting that if the Catholic Church doesn't offer new opportunities soon, "I think women will vote with their feet — they will no longer go and participate in the life of the church."
When the new pope is chosen behind the closed doors of the conclave, he'll adopt his chosen papal name and then be taken to an antechamber in the Sistine Chapel to put on his papal white robes.
That fitting room is called "La Stanza delle Lacrime," or, in English, "the room of tears" — for all the popes who have cried there over the centuries as the gravity of their calling sinks in.
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