Catholic cardinals are gathering at the Vatican to elect the successor to Pope Francis, who died on April 21. Voting will ...

The College of Cardinals will meet beginning Wednesday, May 7, 2025, to vote in a papal conclave -- a secret ballot where two ...

Catholic cardinals will sequester themselves Wednesday behind the Vatican’s medieval walls for the start of a conclave to ...

The Swiss Guard, the pope’s iconic bodyguards, look ceremonial but in the pageantry of the Renaissance-style uniform lies the ...

The black and white smoke that emerges from the Sistine Chapel during a papal conclave is part of a longstanding tradition — ...

Papal conclave ballots have been burned to maintain secrecy for centuries. Ballot smoke has been used to announce a decision ...

The electors met for mass at St Peter’s Basilica ahead of the conclave in the Sistine Chapel from Wednesday afternoon.

Of all the ceremonies associated with electing a new pope, the one most familiar to the general public is the smoke that emanates from a stovepipe chi ...

Cardinals begin historic conclave to elect a new pope, with uncertainty over Francis' legacy and potential new leaders.

Black smoke from a chimney on the roof of the chapel will mark an inconclusive vote, while white smoke and the peeling of bells will signal that the 1.4-billion member church has a new leader. The ...

Cardinals have no contact with the outside world after the master of liturgical ceremonies utters the words “Extra Omnes” the ...