The Vatican announced the conclave will begin on May 7th and will involve some 135 cardinals from across the world..The cardinals will gather for morning Mass at Saint Peter's Basilica, praying for the wisdom to make the right decision. They then will form a procession into the Sistine Chapel, where they will take an oath where they commit to secrecy and not to allow outside interests to sway their decisions.

The master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations orders everyone who is not part of the conclave to leave. The master and a member of the clergy designated to lead a meditation remain.
"This meditation focuses on the grave responsibility that rests upon the electors and the necessity of acting with pure intentions for the good of the Universal Church, keeping only God before their eyes," the Vatican says.

The master and the meditation leader then leave. If voting begins on the afternoon of the first day, there will be only one ballot. On subsequent days, two ballots are held in the morning and two in the afternoon.

The cardinals will vote by secret ballot, proceeding one by one up to Michelangelo's fresco of the Last Judgment to say a prayer and drop the double-folded ballot into a large chalice.

Four rounds of balloting take place each day until a candidate receives two-thirds of the vote. The result of each ballot are counted aloud and recorded by three cardinals designated as recorders. If no one receives the necessary two-thirds of the vote, the ballots are burned in a stove near the chapel with a mixture of chemicals to produce black smoke.

When a cardinal receives the necessary two-thirds vote, the dean of the College of Cardinals asks him if he is willing to serve. If he is, the new pope chooses a papal name and is dressed in papal vestments. The ballots of the final round are burned with chemicals producing white smoke to signal to the world the election of a new pope.

French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, will announce "Habemus Papam" − We have a pope − from the balcony of Saint Peter's Basilica. The new pontiff then goes out onto the balcony and blesses the city of Rome and the entire world.


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