The Pope is elected by the College of Cardinals, specifically by the cardinal electors —those cardinals who are under the age of 80 at the time the papal seat becomes vacant. These cardinal electors gather in a secretive assembly called the Conclave , held in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican
. Key points about the voting process:
- Only cardinals under 80 years old can vote, and there are usually about 120 electors
- The Conclave is conducted in strict isolation to prevent outside influence
- Voting is done by secret ballot, where each cardinal writes the name of their chosen candidate on a folded ballot and places it in a chalice on the altar
- A two-thirds majority is required to elect the new Pope, which typically means at least 89 votes out of about 133 electors in recent conclaves
- Voting rounds occur four times daily (twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon) until a candidate secures the required majority
- After each round, ballots are burned. Black smoke signals no decision yet, while white smoke announces a new Pope has been elected
- Once elected, the new Pope is asked if he accepts the position, chooses a papal name, and is then publicly announced by the Cardinal Protodeacon
In practice, the elected Pope is almost always chosen from among the cardinals themselves, although technically any baptized male Catholic can be elected
. Thus, the vote for the Pope is exclusively conducted by the cardinal electors under age 80, gathered in the conclave under strict secrecy and isolation until a two-thirds majority elects the new pontiff
