Pope Francis was in poor health as he continued to fight double pneumonia in the hospital, a focus on the mysterious process of how the Catholic Church elected its leaders.
The Pope's “conference” intentionally shrouded in mystery – the word itself is Latin “lock the room” – but here are some rules and wrinkles:
Who is eligible?
The candidate must be male and baptized Catholic. And, although this is not a clear requirement, every pope is a cardinal before being elected.
Who votes?
The pope was chosen by 120 cardinals who had to be at least 80 years of age when the last pope died or resigned.
As of January 22, there were 252 cardinals in the world, 138 of which met the age requirement. It is not clear how to choose 120. People over 80 can attend preliminary meetings.
Mary Hunt, co-founder of women's theology, morality and rituals, said the process of electing the new pope was not transparent or democratic
What is the process?
The first day of the conclusion began with a special mass, after which the Cardinal submitted it to the Sistine Church, chanting prayers and hymns, and pleading for the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit to help them choose the Pope. Each cardinal placed his hand in the Gospels and promised “with the greatest loyalty” that never revealed the details of the conclusion.
The master of the Pope's liturgy celebration, the officer who organized religious rituals by the Pope during his tenure, then cried “extra omnes” – Latin for “go all out.” Everyone can start voting except for the Cardinal leaving.
The process is very confidential. According to the Archdiocese of TorontoIf the Cardinal leaks information and the church is swept to remove the listening equipment before and after the meeting.
How do they vote?
Each cardinal wrote his own choice, which reads the Latin word “I was elected as the supreme Pontive.” They approached the altar one by one: “I call me my witness, and will be the Lord Christ of my judge, and my vote is for me to be before God, the man I think should be elected.”
The folded ballots are placed on a circular plate and slide into the oval silver ash. After the vote, the ballots will be opened one-on-one, and they write down their names and read them aloud.
The cardinal can keep his statistics on a piece of paper provided, but must pour his notes at the end of the vote.
The examiner then added up the ballots and wrote the results on separate papers kept in the Pope’s archives.
When the examiner read out each name, he pierced each ballot with the word “eligo” (Latin “I choose”), linking the ballot with the line and forming a knot.
The ballot then burns it in a church furnace with chemicals to produce white or black smoke. When a round of votes leads to a new pope and black, white.
How long does a meeting last?
Voting is only held once on the first day, and up to four rounds of voting are allowed every day thereafter. It takes two-thirds of the majority to win.
If no one is elected after three days, a maximum of one day can be suspended. The vote resumes, if there is no election of the pope after the other 7 votes, there is another pause, and so on, until about 12 days of the vote have passed.
If no one chooses after 33 rounds, the Cardinal will enter the runoff of the first two competitors under relatively new rules introduced by Pope Benedict XVI. Unlike the previous round, both candidates were unable to vote.
The conclusion lasted for several months, with the longest record being the choice of the 13th century Gregory X, which lasted from November 1268 to September 1271, due to internal strife and outdoor intervention.
To prevent the chaos of seeing his election, Gregory X has laid new rules to quarantine voters and lock them in the term “meeting.”
Although there are some outliers, such as the 1740 conference that lasts from February to August, the process now often takes only a few days or even weeks. The average meeting in the 20th century was only three days, and so far, for Francis and Benedict, five and four votes were held respectively for Francis and Benedict.
What happens after the Pope is elected?
After the Pope's election, the Pope's liturgy celebrations will return to the church and the dean of the Cardinal College – if they are under 80 years old, they will run the meetings at the meeting – “Do you accept the normative election of the Pope?”
Suppose the Cardinal says “I accept,” and the Dean asks, “What name do you want to call it?”
The Pope name was originally intended to make the winner's last name Catholic. Pope John II was elected in 533 and was the first to do so, because he was born after the Roman god Mercury. Now, they are often seen as a homage to the former pope and show the new pope’s working method.
When Cardinal Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was elected as Pope, white smoke from the Vatican rose in the Vatican.
The liturgical master then entered information about the formal documents, and white smoke poured out from the chimney of the Sistine Church and the bells of St. Peters Cathedral.
Then the new pope turned into his white cassava, playing the red cardinal to swear their obedience.
The new pope will stop at Pauline's Church and pray for a few minutes before appearing on the porch overlooking St. Peter's Square. Before he reached the balcony, the Cardinal declared “Habemus Papam!” (“We have a pope!”) and introduced him to Latin.
Then the new pope emerged and published his first public discourse as the pope.
