April 28 (UPI) — Cardinals of the Catholic Church present in Rome have announced the conclave to elect the 267th pope will begin in May.
The Vatican reported Monday that, with the conclusion of the nine days of mourning, or the Novemdiales Masses, held for the late Pope Francis, the conclave will begin May 7 in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel after a votive ceremony, the Mass Pro Eligendo Papa, which will be attended by the cardinal electors.
The electors will then make a procession to the Sistine Chapel, where each will take an oath to fulfill the Munus Petrinum as pastor of the Universal Church, and promise to keep absolute secrecy in regard to all details related to the election of the next pope and not to support any attempts of external interference in the election.
Once all who aren’t part of the conclave have left the Sistine Chapel, the electors “then recite prayers according to the Ordo Sacrorum Rituum Conclavis and listen to the cardinal dean, who asks whether they are ready to proceed with voting or if any clarifications regarding the rules and procedures.”
The chapel will then be sealed off until the election concludes, and the electors will not be permitted to have any contact with the outside world except in a case deemed an “extreme urgency.”
If voting begins on the afternoon of the first day, only one ballot is held, but if the voting needs additional days, two ballots will be held in the morning and two in the afternoon on each added day.
The election of a new pope requires a two-thirds majority vote, unless the total number of electors isn’t evenly divisible by three, which would then necessitate an additional vote. If no new pope is selected after three days, a one-day pause will take place to allow for prayer and discussion.
After each vote, the ballots are burned. If no Pope is chosen, black smoke will rise from a Sistine Chapel chimney, but if a pope is elected, white smoke will puff out.
Once the new pope is chosen, the secretary of the College of Cardinals and the master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations are called into the Sistine Chapel. The dean of the college will then ask the candidate elected if they accept their “canonical election as supreme pontiff,” and if he agrees, he will then choose which name he wants to be called as pope.
Once the document of acceptance is drafted and the chosen name is recorded, the new Pope immediately “acquires full and supreme authority over the universal Church,” and the conclave concludes. The cardinal electors then pay their respects and pledge obedience to the new pope, and the cardinal proto-deacon will publicly announce “Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum; Habemus Papam, ” Latin for “We announce with great joy, we have a new pope.”
The pope will then give the Apostolic Blessing Urbi et Orbi from the Loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica before the inauguration ceremony and he officially takes possession of the Patriarchal Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.
