How does the pope get elected?
A Papal Conclave works like this: + A pope dies and is buried + The cardinals come to Rome for the conclave that will elect the new pope. The word conclave (Latin, *** + clavis, literally, “locked with the key”) designates: . • The place in a locked section of the Vatican where the cardinals elect a new pope. . • The actual gathering of the cardinals. + The conclave begins 15 to 20 days after the pope’s death. + The cardinals pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit during a Mass + The cardinals, sealed in the Sistine Chapel, vote every morning and afternoon. + A two-thirds majority plus one is required for election for the first 30 ballots. After that, a simple majority is required. + After each vote, they burn the ballots and add special chemicals to make the smoke white or black. . • Black smoke means no new pope yet. . • White smoke announces the election of a new pope. + The cardinals may elect any baptized male they wish. There have been occasions in the past where they have elec
I took the following from the website posted below The current pope does not designate a successor nor is the pope elected by popular vote of all Catholics, although both of these methods have been used at various times in the past. Instead, the pope is elected by 120 elector cardinals. Cardinals are bishops who are directly appointed by the pope at various points during his pontificate. Although they have lots of other jobs to keep them busy during a pope’s often lengthy tenure, the primary role of cardinals is to elect the next pope. There are usually more than 120 cardinals at any one time, but not all are elector cardinals. Under current church law, cardinals must be under 80 years of age, of sound mind, and present in person at the elections to be eligible to vote. Currently there are 184 cardinals, 121 of which are eligible to vote. Pope John Paul II appointed 42 of these in 2001 and 26 more on October 21, 2003. Naturally, the pope chose cardinals who agree with him on issues tha
By a closed vote of about 125 unmarried males only. The Pope is not elected by a democracy at all since women cannot vote for the Pope at all. Neither can ordinary pew renters. The 125 unmarried males belong to the College of Cardinals; some of the Cardinals in recent years have been forced to resign over child crimes. Those Cardinals technically could have been the next European Catholic Pope for life. All non-Catholics are forbidden from ever voting for the Pope which means the only president of the United States who could ever have voted for the Pope of Europe would have been President John F. Kennedy.
