Conclave, second day: today 4 votes and 2 smokes

It all stems from a historical event dating back to 1270, when the inhabitants of Viterbo, then the papal seat, tired of years of indecision on the part of the cardinals, locked them in the great hall of the palace and uncovered part of its roof, in order to force them to decide as soon as possible who to elect as the new pontiff.

The first official conclave was that of 1276, so the one in 2025 will be the 76⁰ structured in the form established by the Apostolic Constitution Ubi Periculum.

When all the cardinal electors have reached Rome, their accommodation is provided, which is in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Francis lived for the entire pontificate.

On the day set for the beginning of the assembly, all the cardinals gathered in St. Peter's basilica and celebrated the Missa pro eligendo Romano Pontifice there, and in the afternoon they made their way to the Sistine Chapel: the chapel windows were sealed and the entire room was repeatedly searched and cleared of any sound and visual transmission to the outside world.

Beyond the marble gate of the presbytery is the stove in which the voters' notes and votes will be burnt to produce the expected smoke signals: a black smoke for each vote in which the quorum is not reached and a white smoke for the vote in which the new pontiff is elected instead.

Once in the choir of the chapel, the Cardinal Dean (or in the following order, the Vice Dean or the most senior of the cardinal electors according to the customary order of precedence, if one or more of the preceding is absent or prevented or is a non-elector cardinal) shall pronounce for all the electors the Latin oath. Then each cardinal goes individually to the Evangeliary and pronounces the last part of the oath.

This order requires all those present other than the master of papal liturgical celebrations, the ecclesiastic charged with giving the last meditation and the cardinal electors to leave the Sistine Chapel. Once the others have left, the master locks the entrance door and pronounces the extra omnes.

For the entire duration of the conclave, absolute secrecy is imposed: the cardinals, conclaves and all personnel present are forbidden to reveal in any way any information, even the slightest, regarding the election, to converse with people outside the conclave or to communicate by any means; the electors are also forbidden to use television or read newspapers.

The violation of even the slightest secrecy on the part of personnel admitted to perform the duties of the conclave is a very serious offence, punishable by excommunication latae sententiae. Cardinals are also ordered, graviter onerata ipsorum conscientia, to keep secret forever any information concerning the conclave, even after it has ended.

There is one vote on the first day, and four on the following days: two in the morning and two in the afternoon (one black smoke per session, until the white smoke).

If a candidate receives a number of votes equal to or greater than two thirds of the total number of voters - in this case the quorum is 89 votes out of 133 voting cardinals. The election of such a candidate as pontiff is canonically valid.

After his proclamation, the newly-elected pope retires to the Room of Tears, i.e. the sacristy of the Sistine Chapel, to put on the white cassock and vestments (typically the choral gown and stole) for the first time, with which he will appear in public from the 'loggia of blessings' of St Peter's Basilica. The name of this place derives from the fact that, it is assumed, in this room the new pontiff bursts into tears from emotion and from the weight of the responsibility of the role he is called upon to perform. After the vesting, the new Pope returns to the Sistine Chapel, greets the cardinals and prays a Te Deum. Approximately 45-50 minutes can pass from the election to the moment when the new Pope appears.

The 'electors' are the cardinals, 'created' by the pontiffs in the course of time. Only cardinals who had not reached the age of 80 at the time of the previous pope's death (or resignation) may vote.

Paul VI, who carried out the first real reform of the conclave, set the maximum number of electors at 120, a threshold that has often been exceeded, as in the case of this conclave of 2025, since it reached 140 in December 2024, and fell to 135 when Francis died: 133 will vote because some cardinals did not come to Rome for serious health reasons.

The procedure involves four votes a day for three days, then a break of one day, and then seven more votes and possible further breaks. Up to the 34th vote, after which there is a runoff between the first two voted, but they must still exceed two-thirds to be elected.

The cardinal electors will be housed in the Casa Santa Marta, which was renovated by John Paul II for this purpose, but in 2025, given the high number of cardinals - the highest in history - the adjacent structure of the 'old' Santa Marta will also be used. Every day, the cardinals will be transported by bus from the residence - where they will eat their meals, the extras will be paid for separately by the individuals - to the Sistine Chapel, without having contact with outsiders, without using telephones or other means. Among other things, from 1 p.m. on 7 May until the election is over inside Vatican territory, a complete communications screen will be activated.

Italian is spoken in the Conclave, apart from the codified ritual formulas (oath and declaration) which are in Latin, while in the preparatory general congregations a translation service from the main languages was provided. The cardinals in the 2025 conclave come from 71 countries, several of them do not speak Italian (an almost essential even if unwritten condition to be elected) and some do not even speak English or French. No translation service is provided inside the Sistine Chapel.

Since Francis' deterioration, rumours and speculation have been swirling about who the successor might be. Among the 133 cardinals - 108 of whom were appointed by Bergoglio, 22 by Benedict XVI and five by John Paul II - the shortlist is narrowed down to a dozen or so names of the most prominent cardinals who may represent a point of synthesis between doctrinal and pastoral needs and sensitivities, even if the traditional division between conservatives and progressives in this conclave takes on different aspects. This pre-conclave certainly sees the presence of the Italians, who the two previous times were given up for exclusion at the start. An Italian pope has been missing for 47 years, since the death of John Paul I, but now the picture has changed. The main names are Pietro Parolin, former Secretary of State, Matteo Zuppi, President of the Italian Bishops' Conference, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Claudio Gugerotti, former Prefect of the Oriental Churches. Next to them other prominent names: Luis Tagle, Filipino, pro-prefect of Propaganda Fide, Jean Marc Aveline, archbishop of Marseille, Mario Grech, Maltese, secretary general of the Synod, the Spaniard Angel Fernandez Artime, pro-prefect of Consecrated Life, Cristobal Lopez Romero, archbishop of Rabat, and the Italian-Canadian Francis Leo, archbishop of Toronto.