URBEN

After the resignation of Benedict XVI, Rome is preparing to welcome the faithful for the election of a new pope. Are expected hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world.

How is the Pope elected? the Conclave

The Conclave is a spiritual retreat during which all the cardinals of the Church meet to elect the Pope. The candidate must be male, baptized and married.

In the day fixed for the beginning of the conclave (from 15 March onwards), all the cardinals gather in St. Peter’s Basilica to celebrate the “Missa pro eligendo Romano Pontifice”. In the afternoon, the cardinal electors go in procession from the Pauline chapel to the Sistine Chapel:  the voting will take place in a completely sealed from the outside. In the room will be mounted the stove which will burn all the notes and the voters: if  the ballot is inconclusive, black smoke rises from the Sistine Chapel; if the ballot has elected a new Roman Pontiff, white smoke rises.

When a new pope has been elected, the Cardinal Dean or Cardinal first in order and seniority asks the elected person for his consent saying: Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff? And after the consent he also asks: By what name do you wish to be called? After the acceptance, as long as the person has already received episcopal ordination, he is immediately Bishop of the Church of Rome, true Pope, and Head of the College of Bishops.