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Voting to elect Pope Francis’ successor will begin on May 7 in Rome. Local parishes like Mother of Mercy in Washington (112 9th Street) wait with anticipation of who will be named the 267th pope. 

Popes are elected to their positions by cardinals. Cardinals are senior members of the clergy, typically bishops and archbishops, that are appointed by a previous pope. The papacy is a life-long position and those selected serve until their deaths. After the death of a pope, cardinals gather in Rome at the Vatican to elect the next pope. The gathering of cardinals who are eligible to vote (those who are under the age of 80) for a pope is called a conclave. This year, 133 cardinals out of the church’s total 252 cardinals, will be voting. The conclave is set to meet in Rome on May 7. Voting will take place inside the Sistine Chapel. 

The process to elect a pope is different from the process to elect a political figure, Father Erik Reyes of Mother of Mercy explained. Men do not campaign to be the next pontiff. Instead, the conclave relies on wisdom from the Holy Spirit to help them decide who will lead the church next. 

“We believe that it is the Holy Spirit who leads them to finding a new pope,” Reyes said. 

Catholic canon law states that any man who is baptised in the Catholic Church can be elected as pope as long as he is ordained as a bishop upon accepting the election, PBS News report; however, every pope in the last six centuries has come from the College of Cardinals.  

Reyes added that men do not seek the papacy, in part, because of the sheer weight of responsibility of the leadership role. Popes interpret their election as a “sign from God that this is what God wants them to do,” Reyes said. Men elected as pope are “not really thrilled” to be the next pope, because they have the weight of the universal church on their shoulders,” he continued.

It takes a two-thirds majority vote to be elected to the papacy. Pope Francis was elected in March of 2013 with 90 out of 115 votes, USA TODAY reported that year. There is no electronic voting machine, and cardinals are checked for audio/visual devices before they begin voting to ensure voting is not influenced by outside sources and that the decision is from the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, cardinals cast paper ballots, they are checked, then burned. 

“The idea is that as long as they are in the conclave period, as long as they are meeting, they try to keep all the cardinals away from any influence of the world and what’s going on and what people are thinking so their decision making and choice is not influenced by what’s popular,” Reyes explained. 

Once a new pope is selected, he is asked if he accepts the election then chooses the name he will be known by. Jorge Mario Bergoglio selected his papal name, Francis, to honor St. Francis of Assisi, “the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation,” the same created world “with which we don’t have such a good relationship,” he  explained to journalists in 2013, the Catholic Telegraph reported.

The Catholic University of America defined Francis’ legacy, writing, “Francis’ papacy represented both continuity with the Church’s great body of teaching and distinctive contributions to communicating the faith. As the first Jesuit pope and the first from the Americas, he brought fresh perspectives to the papacy while remaining rooted in Catholic teaching. More than anything, Francis was a pope who walked among all people and met them where they were – just like St. Francis of Assisi, for whom he took this name. Whether they faced physical poverty, moral distance, or spiritual apathy, he truly accompanied those ‘on the periphery’ to bring them to Christ in the sacraments.” 

“The core theme of his ministry has been ‘opening wide the doors of mercy,’ inviting everyone into the Heart of Christ in a true relationship of encounter,” the university continued. 

When asked what characteristics he hopes the next pope possesses, Reyes said, he would like to see a pope who, like Francis, is humble and “down-to-earth” and recognizes people’s suffering. 

“I would like to continue to see somebody who is a strong figure who wants to have that love for God  and who wants to lead the church to getting closer to God. Somebody who is able to not condemn but to understand, love and be merciful and kind,” Reyes said. He continued to say he would like to see a pope who can empathize with people without sacrificing biblical truth. 

The Catholic Church’s 1.41 billion members will find out if a new pope has been elected at the same time. From a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, either black smoke or white smoke will appear. Black smoke means a pope has not been elected, but white smokes means a pope has been chosen. Next, the elected Pope will appear before members of the church in St. Peter’s Square. 

“On the first day of voting, the conclave can take a vote in the afternoon. They can vote twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon on each successive day. If a pope is not chosen after three days of voting, the cardinals suspend voting for up to one day ‘to allow a pause for prayer, informal discussion among the voters, and a brief spiritual exhortation’ by a key cardinal,” PBS News reported this week. 

Local dioceses, like the Diocese of Raleigh, will send an email to smaller churches such as Mother of Mercy announcing the news and ask for prayer for the new pope, Reyes shared.