A plume of thick black smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday evening, signaling that the cardinals locked inside have not yet chosen a new pope in their first round of voting.
The signal came roughly three hours and 15 minutes after 133 cardinals from around 70 countries cast their initial ballots in the secretive conclave. Their gathering follows the death of Pope Francis on April 21, who led the Catholic Church for 12 years.
As tradition dictates, the cardinals were sequestered from the outside world, surrendering their mobile phones, while all electronic communications in and around the Vatican were jammed to preserve the confidentiality of the proceedings.
Crowds packed into St. Peter’s Square, many staring up at large screens streaming the day’s solemn rituals including a live feed of the chapel’s chimney and occasional glimpses of wildlife perched nearby. Some disappointed spectators left after hours of waiting, but those who remained erupted in cheers when smoke finally emerged, even though its color confirmed no decision had been made.
The conclave will resume Thursday, with cardinals set to vote again. The process will continue until one among them receives the required two-thirds majority — at least 89 votes to become the next pope.
Today, cardinals will begin the Conclave at the Vatican to elect a new pope, following the death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday. This historic gathering will determine the 267th leader of the Catholic Church and the head of the Vatican State.
A total of 133 cardinal electors, all under the age of 80, are eligible to vote. They represent 71 countries and will undertake the solemn responsibility of selecting the spiritual leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. Notably, 80% of the participating cardinals were appointed by Pope Francis.
Among the four Nigerian cardinals, only Cardinal Peter Okpaleke, Bishop of Ekwulobia in Anambra State, is eligible to vote. Appointed by Pope Francis in 2022, Okpaleke stands as Nigeria’s lone representative in this crucial process.
Countries with the largest number of voting cardinals include Italy (17), the United States (10), Brazil (7), and France and Spain (5 each). Other countries with four voting cardinals each include Argentina, Canada, India, Poland, and Portugal.
How the Pope Is Chosen
The election takes place in the Sistine Chapel, where the cardinal electors swear an oath of absolute secrecy before the doors are sealed. Voting is done by secret ballot, with cardinals individually approaching Michelangelo’s fresco of the Last Judgment to cast their folded votes into a chalice.
The process involves four voting sessions daily until a candidate secures a two-thirds majority. Three designated cardinals count the ballots aloud and record the results. If no candidate meets the threshold, the ballots are burned with chemicals that produce black smoke, signaling an inconclusive vote.
Once a cardinal achieves the required two-thirds, the Dean of the College of Cardinals asks if he accepts the papacy. Upon acceptance, he chooses a papal name, dons the traditional vestments, and prepares for his public appearance.
White smoke from the chapel chimney signals the successful election. The senior cardinal deacon—currently French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti—will then announce “Habemus Papam” (“We have a pope”) from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, where the new pope will appear and offer his first blessing to Rome and the world.
Preparations at the Vatican are already underway. Curtains have been hung on the balcony where the new pontiff will appear, and a temporary chimney has been installed to release the signal smoke.
Nigeria’s Role in the Conclave
Cardinal Peter Okpaleke’s journey has been notable. Born March 1, 1963, in Amesi, Anambra State, he studied philosophy and theology at the Bigard Memorial Major Seminary in Ikot-Ekpene and Enugu, and was ordained as a priest in the Diocese of Awka in 1990. Despite earlier controversy surrounding his appointment as Bishop of Ahiara, he was eventually installed as Bishop of Ekwulobia. He also serves as Chairman of the Canon Law Commission of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN).
Three other prominent Nigerian cardinals—Francis Arinze (92), Anthony Olubunmi Okogie (88), and John Onaiyekan (81) are above the age limit and therefore ineligible to vote.
Meanwhile, over 179 cardinals are currently in Rome, taking part in the 10th general congregation leading up to the Conclave.
The cardinals of the Catholic Church held their 9th in a series of near-daily meetings at the Vatican on Saturday ahead of the election of a new pope.
The closed-door “general congregations” allow them to discuss the challenges the new pontiff will face before they are locked into the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday for the vote.
Walking through crowds of pilgrims and journalists for the morning meeting, the so-called “Princes of the Church” gave little away — not even speculating how long the conclave would last.
“We do not know, we just wait for the Lord to tell us,” said Cardinal William Seng Chye Goh, Archbishop of Singapore, seen as one of the more conservative prelates.
The cardinals were called to Rome from around the world after the death on April 21 of Pope Francis, an energetic reformer from Argentina who led the Catholic Church for 12 years.
On Wednesday, 133 of them will enter the Sistine Chapel and not leave until they have — after a series of secret ballots — given a two-thirds majority to Francis’ successor.
We recognise his achievement but no pope is perfect, no one is able to do everything so we will find the best person to succeed St Peter,” Goh told reporters.
Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, archbishop of Algiers, said he hoped the conclave would choose a pope to follow in Francis’ progressive footsteps.
“We must discover the one the Lord has already chosen,” he said.
“We could have had much more time praying together, but I am sure that at the right moment we will be ready and we will give the Church the pope that the Lord has wanted.”
The papal election is being followed keenly by the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, and at least one non-Catholic leader has taken an unusual interest.
Following concern about the future direction of the church, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State, Pope Francis, Tuesday, wrapped up two days of closed-door meetings with about 180 cardinals.
The closed-door meetings were with many cardinals young enough to elect a future pontiff.
Among the issues discussed at the meeting was how the Catholic Church’s governance could be made more inclusive.
Pope Francis
The sessions focused on a new Apostolic constitution that, among other things, allows lay people to head important Vatican offices, envisioning greater decision-making roles for them, including women.
But since the church has closed the door to women in the priesthood, the most prestigious, and ultimately most powerful roles, including that of a pontiff, remain in the realm of men.
The reforms also lend more institutional weight to efforts to fight clerical sex abuse. The document, made public earlier this year, replaced the constitution written by St. John Paul II in 1988.
Francis on Saturday raised 20 churchmen to the rank of cardinal, including 16 younger than 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave to elect his successor, when the time comes.
Until Pope Benedict XVI resigned in 2013, the first pontiff in almost 600 years to do so, conclaves in recent centuries had followed the death of popes. Francis, who is 85, has said that resignation can be a valid option for pontiffs who can’t adequately fulfill their role as leaders of the world’s more than 1.3 billion Catholics.
But he has brushed off talk that he is contemplating stepping down soon despite health problems, including a bad knee that necessitates frequent wheelchair use.
In his homily at a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica to close out the meetings, Francis offered no details about this week’s discussions. But he urged the cardinals, known as the “princes of the church,” to be on guard against the “cancer, the woodworm, of worldly spirituality.”
While in Rome these days, cardinals from around the world could size each other up. Encounters, including informal ones, allow them to see who might have the potential to become a future pope as well as to ponder possible alliances among geographical groupings or among like-minded churchmen from more conservative or more progressive factions.
The Vatican said the themes discussed were the role of lay persons, financial transparency, the managerial structure of the Vatican bureaucracy, and how to “announce the Gospel in an epoch like the current one.”
Francis has worked to reform the Holy See’s finances, including its multimillion-dollar investments, one of which is at the heart of a trial underway at the Holy See and involving, among others, a Vatican cardinal.
Francis has tried to make the church more inviting to those who might feel unwelcome, including LGBTQ Catholics, or undervalued, including women.
On Monday, a half-dozen female activists protested as cardinals, with their iconic red headgear, flocked to the meeting on Vatican grounds. The women held up red parasols with slogans reading, “Sexism is a Cardinal Sin.” Other slogans were: “It’s reigning men” and “Ordain Women.”
One protester, Miriam Duignan, lamented that the cardinals were “going to talk about the future of the church without half of the church.”
Pope Francis announced the appointment of 13 new cardinals on Sunday, including archbishops from the U.S., Rwanda and the Philippines.
The appointments will be formalised in a consistory, a meeting of cardinals, on Nov. 28, the pontiff said during his Sunday Angelus message.
Nine of the appointees are under 80, and as long as they do not reach that age, they can take part in the next conclave, the council of cardinals that elects new popes.
The list includes Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory, Kigali Archbishop Antoine Kambanda, representing one of the most Catholic countries in Africa, and Jose Fuerte Advincula, the Archbishop of Capiz in the Philippines, Asia’s most Catholic country.
The list also includes several Italians, including the head of the Vatican’s sainthood department, Bishop Marcello Semeraro, and the head of the Franciscan convent of Assisi, Fra Mauro Gambetti.
