section_path: Election, death, and resignation/Election
section_name: Election
paragraph_text: Election
  
  The pope was originally chosen by those senior clergymen resident in and near Rome. In 1059, the electorate was restricted to the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, and the individual votes of all cardinal electors were made equal in 1179. The electors are now limited to those cardinals who have not reached the age of 80 on the day before the death or resignation of a pope. The pope does not need to be a cardinal elector nor indeed even a cardinal; since the pope is the bishop of Rome, only one who can be ordained a bishop can be elected, which means that any male baptized Catholic is eligible. The last to be elected when not yet a bishop was Gregory XVI in 1831, the last to be elected when not even a priest was Leo X in 1513, and the last to be elected when not a cardinal was Urban VI in 1378. If someone who is not a bishop is elected, he must be given episcopal ordination before the election is announced to the people.
  
  The Second Council of Lyon was convened on 7 May 1274, to regulate the election of the pope. It was decreed at this council that the cardinal electors must meet within ten days of the pope's death, and that they must remain in seclusion until a pope has been elected; this was prompted by the three-year sede vacante following the death of Clement IV in 1268. By the mid-16th century, the electoral process had evolved into its present form, allowing for variation in the time between the death of the pope and the meeting of the cardinal electors. Traditionally, the vote was conducted by acclamation, by selection (by committee), or by plenary vote. Acclamation was the simplest procedure, consisting entirely of a voice vote.
  
  Since 1878, the election of the pope has taken place in the Sistine Chapel, in a sequestered meeting called a " conclave " (so called because the cardinal electors are theoretically locked in, cum clave, i.e., with key, until they elect a new pope). Three cardinals are chosen by lot to collect the votes of absent cardinal electors (by reason of illness), three are chosen by lot to count the votes, and three are chosen by lot to review the count of the votes. The ballots are distributed and each cardinal elector writes the name of his choice on it and pledges aloud that he is voting for "one whom under God I think ought to be elected" before folding and depositing his vote on a plate atop a large chalice placed on the altar.
  
  For the 2005 papal conclave, a special urn was used for this purpose instead of a chalice and plate. The plate is then used to drop the ballot into the chalice, making it difficult for electors to insert multiple ballots. Before being read, the ballots are counted while still folded; if the number of ballots does not match the number of electors, the ballots are burned unopened and a new vote is held. Otherwise, each ballot is read aloud by the presiding cardinal, who pierces the ballot with a needle and thread, stringing all the ballots together and tying the ends of the thread to ensure accuracy and honesty. Balloting continues until someone is elected by a two-thirds majority. With the promulgation of Universi Dominici Gregis in 1996, a simple majority after a deadlock of twelve days was allowed, but this was revoked by Pope Benedict XVI by motu proprio in 2007.
  
  The dean of the College of Cardinals then asks two solemn questions of the man who has been elected. First he asks, "Do you freely accept your election as supreme pontiff?" If the pope-elect replies with the word "Accepto", his reign begins at that instant. In practice, any cardinal who intends not to accept will explicitly state this before he receives a sufficient number of votes to become pope. The dean asks next, "By what name shall you be called?" The new pope announces the regnal name he has chosen. If the dean of the college himself is elected pope, as was the case in the 2005 conclave with the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the vice dean performs this task.
  
  The new pope is led to the Room of Tears, a dressing room where three sets of white papal vestments (immantatio) await in three sizes. Donning the appropriate vestments and reemerging into the Sistine Chapel, the new pope is given the " Fisherman's Ring " by the camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church. The pope assumes a place of honour as the rest of the cardinals wait in turn to offer their first "obedience" (adoratio) and to receive his blessing.
  
  One of the most prominent aspects of the papal election process is the means by which the results of each round of voting are announced to the world. Once the ballot papers are counted and bound together, they are burned in a special stove erected in the Sistine Chapel, with the smoke escaping through a small chimney visible from Saint Peter's Square. The ballots from an unsuccessful vote are burned along with a chemical compound to create black smoke, or fumata nera. Traditionally, wet straw was used to produce the black smoke, but this was not completely reliable; the chemical compound is more reliable than the straw. When a vote is successful, the ballots are burned alone, sending white smoke (fumata bianca) through the chimney and announcing to the world the election of a new pope. Starting with the papal conclave of 2005, church bells are also rung as a signal that a new pope has been chosen.
  
  A short time later, the cardinal protodeacon announces from a balcony over St. Peter's Square the following proclamation: Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum! Habemus Papam ! ("I announce to you a great joy! We have a pope!"). He announces the new pope's Christian name along with his newly-chosen regnal or papal name.
  
  Until 1978, the pope's election was followed in a few days by the papal coronation, which started with a procession with great pomp and circumstance from the Sistine Chapel to St. Peter's Basilica, with the newly elected pope borne in the sedia gestatoria (a carried papal throne). After a solemn Papal Mass, the new pope was crowned with the triregnum (papal tiara) and he gave for the first time as pope the famous blessing Urbi et Orbi ("to the City and to the World"). Another renowned part of the coronation was the lighting of a bundle of flax at the top of a gilded pole, which would flare brightly for a moment and then promptly extinguish, as he said, Sic transit gloria mundi ("Thus passes worldly glory"). A similar warning against papal hubris made on this occasion was the traditional exclamation, "Annos Petri non-videbis", reminding the newly crowned pope that he would not live to see his rule lasting as long as that of St. Peter. According to tradition, Peter headed the church for 35 years, and has thus far been the longest-reigning pope in the history of the Catholic Church. Nowadays, the newly elected pope celebrates a special mass to inaugurate his papacy, with many tens of thousands of catholic laity, church clerics and religious, and delegations from many nations and other churches across the world, in St Peter's Square.
  
  For centuries, starting from 1378 onwards, those elected to the papacy were predominantly Italians. Prior to the election of the Polish-born John Paul II in 1978, the last non-Italian was Adrian VI of the Netherlands, elected in 1522. John Paul II was followed by election of the German-born Benedict XVI, who was in turn followed by Argentine-born Francis, the first non-European after 1272 years and the first Latin American (albeit of Italian ancestry). The most recent election, of Pope Leo XIV (formerly Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost), continues this new tradition of papal selection from a global pool: the current pope was born and lived until his mid-20s in the United States, is a citizen by naturalization of Peru (where he served as an Augustinian priest and bishop for approximately 20 years), and had by the time of his election spent almost 20 years in Italy and the Vatican studying and in various Church leadership roles.
  
  The pope was originally chosen by those senior clergymen resident in and near Rome. In 1059, the electorate was restricted to the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, and the individual votes of all cardinal electors were made equal in 1179. The electors are now limited to those cardinals who have not reached the age of 80 on the day before the death or resignation of a pope. The pope does not need to be a cardinal elector nor indeed even a cardinal; since the pope is the bishop of Rome, only one who can be ordained a bishop can be elected, which means that any male baptized Catholic is eligible. The last to be elected when not yet a bishop was Gregory XVI in 1831, the last to be elected when not even a priest was Leo X in 1513, and the last to be elected when not a cardinal was Urban VI in 1378. If someone who is not a bishop is elected, he must be given episcopal ordination before the election is announced to the people.
  
  The Second Council of Lyon was convened on 7 May 1274, to regulate the election of the pope. It was decreed at this council that the cardinal electors must meet within ten days of the pope's death, and that they must remain in seclusion until a pope has been elected; this was prompted by the three-year sede vacante following the death of Clement IV in 1268. By the mid-16th century, the electoral process had evolved into its present form, allowing for variation in the time between the death of the pope and the meeting of the cardinal electors. Traditionally, the vote was conducted by acclamation, by selection (by committee), or by plenary vote. Acclamation was the simplest procedure, consisting entirely of a voice vote.
  
  Since 1878, the election of the pope has taken place in the Sistine Chapel, in a sequestered meeting called a " conclave " (so called because the cardinal electors are theoretically locked in, cum clave, i.e., with key, until they elect a new pope). Three cardinals are chosen by lot to collect the votes of absent cardinal electors (by reason of illness), three are chosen by lot to count the votes, and three are chosen by lot to review the count of the votes. The ballots are distributed and each cardinal elector writes the name of his choice on it and pledges aloud that he is voting for "one whom under God I think ought to be elected" before folding and depositing his vote on a plate atop a large chalice placed on the altar.
  
  For the 2005 papal conclave, a special urn was used for this purpose instead of a chalice and plate. The plate is then used to drop the ballot into the chalice, making it difficult for electors to insert multiple ballots. Before being read, the ballots are counted while still folded; if the number of ballots does not match the number of electors, the ballots are burned unopened and a new vote is held. Otherwise, each ballot is read aloud by the presiding cardinal, who pierces the ballot with a needle and thread, stringing all the ballots together and tying the ends of the thread to ensure accuracy and honesty. Balloting continues until someone is elected by a two-thirds majority. With the promulgation of Universi Dominici Gregis in 1996, a simple majority after a deadlock of twelve days was allowed, but this was revoked by Pope Benedict XVI by motu proprio in 2007.
  
  The dean of the College of Cardinals then asks two solemn questions of the man who has been elected. First he asks, "Do you freely accept your election as supreme pontiff?" If the pope-elect replies with the word "Accepto", his reign begins at that instant. In practice, any cardinal who intends not to accept will explicitly state this before he receives a sufficient number of votes to become pope. The dean asks next, "By what name shall you be called?" The new pope announces the regnal name he has chosen. If the dean of the college himself is elected pope, as was the case in the 2005 conclave with the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the vice dean performs this task.
  
  The new pope is led to the Room of Tears, a dressing room where three sets of white papal vestments (immantatio) await in three sizes. Donning the appropriate vestments and reemerging into the Sistine Chapel, the new pope is given the " Fisherman's Ring " by the camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church. The pope assumes a place of honour as the rest of the cardinals wait in turn to offer their first "obedience" (adoratio) and to receive his blessing.
  
  One of the most prominent aspects of the papal election process is the means by which the results of each round of voting are announced to the world. Once the ballot papers are counted and bound together, they are burned in a special stove erected in the Sistine Chapel, with the smoke escaping through a small chimney visible from Saint Peter's Square. The ballots from an unsuccessful vote are burned along with a chemical compound to create black smoke, or fumata nera. Traditionally, wet straw was used to produce the black smoke, but this was not completely reliable; the chemical compound is more reliable than the straw. When a vote is successful, the ballots are burned alone, sending white smoke (fumata bianca) through the chimney and announcing to the world the election of a new pope. Starting with the papal conclave of 2005, church bells are also rung as a signal that a new pope has been chosen.
  
  A short time later, the cardinal protodeacon announces from a balcony over St. Peter's Square the following proclamation: Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum! Habemus Papam ! ("I announce to you a great joy! We have a pope!"). He announces the new pope's Christian name along with his newly-chosen regnal or papal name.
  
  Until 1978, the pope's election was followed in a few days by the papal coronation, which started with a procession with great pomp and circumstance from the Sistine Chapel to St. Peter's Basilica, with the newly elected pope borne in the sedia gestatoria (a carried papal throne). After a solemn Papal Mass, the new pope was crowned with the triregnum (papal tiara) and he gave for the first time as pope the famous blessing Urbi et Orbi ("to the City and to the World"). Another renowned part of the coronation was the lighting of a bundle of flax at the top of a gilded pole, which would flare brightly for a moment and then promptly extinguish, as he said, Sic transit gloria mundi ("Thus passes worldly glory"). A similar warning against papal hubris made on this occasion was the traditional exclamation, "Annos Petri non-videbis", reminding the newly crowned pope that he would not live to see his rule lasting as long as that of St. Peter. According to tradition, Peter headed the church for 35 years, and has thus far been the longest-reigning pope in the history of the Catholic Church. Nowadays, the newly elected pope celebrates a special mass to inaugurate his papacy, with many tens of thousands of catholic laity, church clerics and religious, and delegations from many nations and other churches across the world, in St Peter's Square.
  
  For centuries, starting from 1378 onwards, those elected to the papacy were predominantly Italians. Prior to the election of the Polish-born John Paul II in 1978, the last non-Italian was Adrian VI of the Netherlands, elected in 1522. John Paul II was followed by election of the German-born Benedict XVI, who was in turn followed by Argentine-born Francis, the first non-European after 1272 years and the first Latin American (albeit of Italian ancestry). The most recent election, of Pope Leo XIV (formerly Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost), continues this new tradition of papal selection from a global pool: the current pope was born and lived until his mid-20s in the United States, is a citizen by naturalization of Peru (where he served as an Augustinian priest and bishop for approximately 20 years), and had by the time of his election spent almost 20 years in Italy and the Vatican studying and in various Church leadership roles.