White smoke concludes the conclave.
White smoke billowed from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel just after noon Eastern (6 p.m. local time) on Thursday, May 8, signifying a new pope has been selected. The conclave, which began on Wednesday, May 7, thus concludes on the second day. After four or five total rounds of voting (the world will never know for sure), the cardinals chose Robert Prevost, the first ever American pope, who has chosen the name Leo XIV.
Picking a Pope
There were 133 cardinal electors sequestered in the Vatican to select the next pope. As for the vote counts or who voted for whom, the public will never know. The cardinals and everyone else involved – from cooks and cleaners to drivers and elevator operators – were sworn to secrecy under threat of automatic excommunication should they talk.
As for the process, each cardinal writes on a piece of paper “Eligo in summen pontificem,” which is Latin for “I elect as Supreme Pontiff,” and then the name of their choice. They approach the alter one by one and say: “I call as my witness, Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who, before God, I think should be elected.” Then they place their folded ballots on a round plate and slide them into an oval urn.
After all votes are counted and the outcomes announced, the papers are sewn together with each one pierced through the word “Eligo.” Finally, they are burned with a chemical that will either produce black or white smoke – black for no, white for yes – which billows out of the chimney above the Sistine Chapel, announcing to the world the progress or lack thereof.
Once white smoke rises from the chimney, the cardinal protodeacon announces from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica: “habemus papam,” which is Latin for “We have a pope.” In this conclave, it fell to Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, a 73-year-old Frenchman born in Morocco, who emerged at about 7:15 p.m. local time (1:15 p.m. Eastern) to make his announcement.
A Matter of Time
Pope Francis – born December 17, 1936, and deceased April 21, 2025 – was chosen in March of 2013 after just two days of voting. In fact, the 2025 conclave is the third in a row to be resolved in two days. But the process has been known to take much longer – months or, in one case, years.
In 1268, the death of Pope Clement VI created a crisis. There were only 17 cardinals in the conclave to select his successor, but they were split between two factions, the Guelphs and the Ghibellenes, who disagreed on the Investiture Controversy, or whether authority to appoint bishops and abbots rested with the church or secular leaders. This division – along with personal and political issues between the cardinals – resulted in a stalemate that lasted 1,006 days, or almost 3 years. The people of Viterbo, where that conclave was held, eventually locked down the city and refused to allow the cardinals to leave until a pope was elected.
It was that pope, Gregory X, who declared in 1274 that all future conclaves must be held behind closed doors with the cardinals locked in isolation “cum clave” (with a key) with no outside contact until they complete the process. That’s where the term conclave came from. From then on, the process took anywhere from a couple of days to a few months. The last conclave to take more than a week was in 1831. After 51 days of voting, Pope Gregory XVI was elected.
Liberty Nation does not endorse candidates, campaigns, or legislation, and this presentation is no endorsement.
