May 7, 2025 - Day 1 Papal Conclave news

Our live coverage of the papal conclave has moved here.

Day one of the conclave ended later than anticipated for some, but Kurt Martens, a professor of canon law at The Catholic University, said he expected today’s ballot to be later for a number of reasons.

“I was expecting it to be a little bit later, not only because of father or cardinal Cantalamessa, who has a tendency to preach long, but also the taking the oath took forever as they entered into conclave. Much longer than last time around,” Martens told CNN’s Erin Burnett.

“So be patient. And extend your airtime a little longer,” Martens advised.

The elections of Popes Benedict XVI and Francis were swift by historical standards. Both popes were appointed on the second day of voting. Benedict required four rounds of voting; Francis took five.

Pope John Paul II, Benedict’s predecessor, took slightly longer. He was elected in 1978 on the third day of voting, in the eighth round.

The conclaves held earlier in the 20th century took more time. In 1903, it took five days of voting to elect Pope Pius X – the same number it took to elect Pius XII in 1939.

People react on Wednesday, as black smoke rises from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel, indicating no decision has been made to elect a new pope.

Almost as soon as black smoke billowed out of the Sistine Chapel’s chimney, many members of the huge crowd that had gathered in St. Peter’s Square quickly made for the exits.

It’s been centuries since a pope was chosen in the first round of voting. Still, the tens of thousands of people at the Vatican were hoping that this time would be different.

Some of those gathered told us they were tourists, hoping that their few days in Rome would coincide with the appointment of a new pope.

The mood among the locals is different. Many came to the Vatican straight after work this afternoon. Tomorrow, they said, they’ll be back.

Black smoke rises from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel, indicating no decision has been made to elect a new pope on Wednesday.

Black smoke is rising from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, meaning that cardinals did not elect a new pope on the first day of the conclave.

They’ll return to the Santa Marta residence, where they’ll remain sequestered until a second day of voting begins tomorrow.

It’s been nearly three hours since the doors of the Sistine Chapel were closed, marking the start of the conclave.

The first vote of a conclave typically takes longer than others. First, one of the cardinals delivers a “meditation” – an address that has been likened to the Catholic Church’s “State of the Nation,” reflecting on what the priorities for the next papacy should be.

Then, the cardinals have to appoint nine people to special roles – the Scrutineers, Infirmarii and Revisers – to help collect and verify the results.

If there is a discrepancy between the number of cardinal electors and the number of ballots collected, the vote has to be redone.

Another reason the vote may have taken this long is that more cardinals – 133 in total – have voted in this conclave than in previous ones.

Still, this has taken longer than many analysts were expecting.

People gather to watch during the conclave on Wednesday.

The crowd in St. Peter’s Square has broken into applause at a few points over the past hour.

No smoke has not yet billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, and the clapping has seemed to start at random – a sign of the excitement among the tens of thousands of people at the Vatican.

More than 45,000 people are now in the square, according to Vatican Media.

Reverend Sam Sawyer speaks to CNN.

The conclave process is highly secretive, which allows the church and cardinals “freedom” to choose a pope without outside influence, Rev. Sam Sawyer, a Jesuit priest and president and editor-in-chief at America Media, told CNN.

“I think the secrecy really it’s meant to help the cardinals discern in freedom, so it gives them the freedom to vote within their own conscience for the man they think is best suited to be the pope,” Sawyer said.

While in contemporary times the conclave allows cardinals “freedom of conscience” and the ability “to be really frank with each other and then also to vote according to how the spirit moves them,” historically the secretive process played a more protective role, Sawyer noted.

“In the past, one of the reasons to protect the conclave this way is because it would come under political pressure or come under, you know, pressure from people who would basically hand the papacy down within families,” he said.

Another key part of the conclave process is the first ballot, Bishop Robert Barron, founder of Word on Fire, told CNN. Barron noted that while “it’s close to no chance” that a pope is selected during this time, the first vote is important.

This post has been updated with comments from Barron.

Sunlight fades over the statues of the Bernini Colonnade at the Vatican on Wednesday.

The sun is setting on St. Peter’s Square, which is packed with people waiting to see which color of the smoke will soon billow from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel.

Black will mean that the cardinals have failed to elect a new pope, while white smoke will mean they have reached a consensus on the Catholic church’s next leader.

Some 30,000 people are in the crowd, Italian police told CNN.

The crowd keeps growing, and the mood here is electric.

Faithful gather at St. Peter's Square on Wednesday evening.

Dan Svizeny, left, speaks with CNN's David Culver in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday.

Dan Svizeny, from New Hope, Pennsylvania, said he is visiting Rome for work and is among those in St. Peter’s Square today, awaiting the potential announcement of a new pope.

Asked by CNN’s David Culver if he’s Catholic, Svizeny briefly hesitated before answering, “Yes.”

“I mean yeah, I think, if my mom’s going to see this, yes,” he added.

Svizeny noted that he went to Catholic school for a time and that the whole experience being at the Vatican today “means a lot.”

Dillon McDermott, another visitor at the Vatican today, said he “grew up raised Catholic, went to church every Sunday, went to a Catholic college, as well.”

McDermott said that he doesn’t practice as much as he used to, but coming to St. Peter’s Square today made him feel “a little bit” closer to the church. “It’s pretty spectacular just seeing the turnout and everything that’s going on here,” he said.

This post has been updated with more comments from people gathered at the Vatican.

Cardinals attend the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on April 26.

More than four out of five of the cardinals who are selecting the next pontiff owe their positions to Pope Francis.

Of the 133 members of the College of Cardinals under the age of 80 who are eligible to vote in the conclave, Pope Francis installed 108.

The conclave is “one of the most diverse that we’ve had in the history of the church,” Susan Timoney, a professor at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, told CNN ahead of today’s ceremonies.

During his 12-year papacy, Francis appointed more than 20 cardinals from countries that had never previously had a cardinal, nearly all from developing countries, including Mongolia, Laos, Papua New Guinea and Mali.

Since many of the cardinals appointed by previous popes turned 80 during Francis’ papacy, this “generation shift in the age of the cardinals” allowed him to appoint new members from different parts of the world, Timoney said.

Some have speculated that this could lead to the conclave to appoint a successor that will continue Francis’ pastoral priorities.

Thousands of pilgrims have gathered in St. Peter’s Square and are looking up at the chimney of the Sistine Chapel.

But this seagull might have the best view of any at the Vatican.

The chimney atop the roof of the Sistine Chapel is seen during the conclave on Wednesday.

We can’t see what’s going on in the chapel, but the voting procedure will be following a centuries-old tradition.

Nine cardinals will be chosen at random to perform specific roles:

In order of seniority, the cardinals will walk to the table in front of the altar, where the Scrutineers sit, to cast their ballot.

After all ballots are cast, the first Scrutineer shakes the urn to mix them up. The third Scrutineer counts the ballots. If the number of ballots doesn’t match the number of electors, the ballots are burned, and the vote is redone.

If the number is correct, the first Scrutineer unfolds the ballot, notes the name and passes it to the second Scrutineer.

The second Scrutineer notes the name and passes the ballot to the third Scrutineer.

The last Scrutineer reads the name aloud for all the cardinals to hear and records the vote. As the name is read out, the Scrutineer threads a needle through the ballot with the word “Eligo” (“I elect”) and secures it to the other ballots.

After reading out all the names, the cardinals will learn if they have elected a new pope. For each round, the sewn-together ballots are placed in a third urn for burning.

The color of the smoke from that fire will tell the world when there is a new pope.

Now that the Sistine Chapel has closed its doors, all eyes have turned to its chimney, which is the Vatican’s way of communicating the conclave’s deliberations to the outside world.

At the end of each session of voting, the cardinals will burn the ballots they cast. The smoke from this fire will tell the world whether a new pope has been chosen or not.

If the smoke is black, no candidate has received a two-thirds majority of the votes cast, meaning they have failed to elect a new pope. If the smoke is white, cardinals have reached a consensus, and a new pope has been chosen.

The practice of using smoke to signify that cardinals have chosen a new pope dates back to the 1800s. However, the first reference to white or black smoke occurred at the 1903 conclave.

Various chemicals are added to the blaze to make the black smoke darker and the white smoke more visible. Last week, workers installed a special chimney feature on the chapel’s roof.

The 133 cardinals tasked with selecting the next pope are now locked down in the Sistine Chapel. No cameras are allowed inside during the conclave, but before the chapel went into lockdown, we saw the cardinals taking their oath of secrecy.

You may have noticed that the cardinals were wearing red robes and gold rings during their oaths — both are items that hold special meaning.

“So this is the ring they’re given when they are made cardinal,” CNN’s Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb explained. “So, it’s a special ring for the cardinal and often symbolizes something to do with the scripture or the gospel.”

He noted that the idea of the ring is a symbol of their commitment to their roles as cardinals.

The red robes the cardinals wore are another symbol of their faith.

“And of course the cardinals wear red as a sign that they’re willing to shed their blood in the service of the faith,” Lamb said. “They are all symbols pointing to something.”

Faithful watch a giant screen showing images of cardinals entering the conclave on Wednesday.

The process to choose a new leader for the Catholic church, the conclave, is formally underway at the Vatican.

The doors at the Sistine Chapel have been locked to outsiders, beginning the secretive process that will culminate in a new pontiff.

The 133 cardinals will be voting, with no clear frontrunner having emerged to take over leadership of the Roman Catholic Church.

Members of the Swiss Guard stand in front of the closed doors of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday.

To guarantee complete secrecy, the Sistine Chapel will be placed under total lockdown during the conclave.

Even this centuries-old process has had to keep up with the times: The Vatican plans to use signal jammers around the Sistine Chapel to prevent electronic surveillance or communication outside the conclave. Cardinals also had to give up their phones and all their electronic devices. They will only get them back once the conclave has ended, a Vatican spokesperson said.

After the oath of secrecy, Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, the Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations has just given the order of “Extra omnes,” a Latin phrase that means “everybody out.”

All of the “extras” will now file out, leaving only the 133 cardinal electors in the Sistine Chapel.

The conclave will officially begin once the doors to the chapel are closed.

A cardinal takes the oath of secrecy as Conclave begins on Wednesday.

We’re about halfway through the individual oaths of secrecy, in which all 133 cardinals — in order of seniority — must make their way to the altar, where they’ll swear not to speak publicly about the election.

Already, we’ve seen some of the favorites to succeed Pope Francis. These cardinals are known as the “papabile.”

First to swear the individual oath was Cardinal Pietro Parolin of Italy, who oversaw the procession to the Sistine Chapel.

We’ve also seen Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, Cardinal Gérald Lacroix of Quebec and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of the United States. All three are thought to have a chance to become the next pope, although there is no clear frontrunner.

Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday.

The cardinals are now swearing a collective oath to observe “with the greatest fidelity… secrecy regarding everything that in any way relates to the election of the Roman Pontiff.”

The oath of secrecy is one of the final acts the world will see before the Sistine Chapel enters “extra omnes” and closes its doors.

Then, one by one, in order of seniority, the cardinals will swear an individual oath.

Visitors watch the cardinal's procession to the Sistine Chapel displayed on a screen, ahead of the conclave, on St Peter's Square in the Vatican, on Wednesday.

All 133 cardinal electors are now in the Sistine Chapel. It is within these walls that they will choose the successor to Pope Francis.

Having chanted the Litany of the Saints, the cardinals have sung two prayers while seated under Michelangelos fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Next, they will sing “Veni, creator Spiritus,” an ancient hymn pleading for the Holy Spirit to enter and dwell in their hearts and minds. This hymn is over 1,000 years old and is at the heart of the Catholic Church.