Tue Apr 22 08:09:36 UTC 2025: ## Vatican City Prepares for Papal Conclave Following Death of Pope Francis

**Vatican City, April 22, 2025** – The death of Pope Francis has set in motion a centuries-old process to elect his successor. The Vatican has released key terms and procedures to help the public understand the upcoming conclave.

Following the confirmation of Pope Francis’s death, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Camerlengo, assumed responsibility for the Holy See’s temporal affairs. The 135 cardinal electors, the majority appointed by Pope Francis himself, will convene in the Sistine Chapel for the conclave, which must begin within 20 days. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside over the proceedings. Cardinals will gather beforehand for a general congregation to discuss church affairs and conclave preparations.

The conclave itself will be a closed-door process, with the phrase “Extra omnes” (“all out”) signaling the start of voting. The election requires a two-thirds majority. Ballots will be burned in a special furnace; white smoke signals a new pope’s election, while black smoke indicates a lack of consensus. The result will be announced by Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, the Protodeacon, from St. Peter’s Basilica with the Latin phrase “Habemus Papam” (“We have a pope”).

Several key roles are involved: three cardinals will scrutinize the ballots, three will collect ballots from ill electors, and three will count and burn them. A papal bull, “Universi Dominici Gregis” (“The Lord’s whole flock”), outlines the regulations for the conclave process. Pope Francis’s will stipulates his burial in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, rather than within the Vatican. His simple tomb will bear only the inscription “Franciscus.”

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