Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Watch live as cardinals choose the new pope. Candidates need a two-thirds majority, or 89 votes. If no one secures that Wednesday, the cardinals will retire for the day and return on Thursday. They will have two ballots in the morning and then two in the afternoon, until a winner is found.
▶ Follow live updates on the Conclave to elect the next Pope
VATICAN CITY (AP) - The great doors of the Sistine Chapel shut Wednesday after the cry of "extra omnes" - Latin for "all out" - and 133 cardinals began the secretive, centuries-old ritual of electing a new pope to lead the Catholic Church, opening the most geographically diverse conclave in the faith's 2,000-year history.
The red-robed cardinals entered the Sistine Chapel in pairs, chanting the meditative "Litany of the Saints" as Swiss Guards stood at attention. The hymn implores the saints to help the cardinals find a successor to Pope Francis to lead the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the secretary of state under Francis and himself a leading contender to succeed him as pope, assumed the leadership of the proceedings as the senior cardinal under age 80.
Faithful capture images with their smartphones of cardinals arriving during a final Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica before the conclave to elect a new pope, at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Faithful capture images with their smartphones of cardinals arriving during a final Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica before the conclave to elect a new pope, at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Speaking in Latin, Parolin stood before Michelangelo's vision of heaven and hell, "The Last Judgment," and led the cardinals in a lengthy oath. Each one followed, placing his hand on the Gospel and promising in Latin to maintain utmost secrecy.
A nun looks at Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu walk past during a final Mass celebrated by cardinals inside St. Peter's Basilica before the conclave to elect a new pope, at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
A nun looks at Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu walk past during a final Mass celebrated by cardinals inside St. Peter's Basilica before the conclave to elect a new pope, at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)