PLATTSBURGH — The College of Cardinals will be locked inside the Sistine Chapel’s Apostolic Palace today until white smoke billows above Vatican City.
This indicates that the 133 Cardinals, under age 80, participating in the 2025 papal conclave have selected the supreme pontiff to lead the 1.4 billion-member Roman Catholic Church after the death of Pope Francis Easter Monday.
Conclave is derived from the Latin for “cum clavis” (“with a key”), according to catholicnewsagency.org
“There’s a separation of them from the world that’s around them, so that the world around them isn’t affecting their business right then,” Msgr. Dennis J. Duprey, Diocese of Ogdensburg Dean of the Clinton-Northern Franklin Deanery, said.
“In other words, they are not going to be influenced by the events of the day or somebody putting pressure on them or whatever happens to be. They are locked in together.”
The papacy began with Apostle St. Peter in the 1st century.
“Then afterwards, they were selected in various ways for several centuries,” Duprey said.
“There was a lot of turmoil in medieval Europe. It took them two or three years to get the thing done. The people insisted that the pope be elected quicker. In other words, go in there and settle it, and after you settle, then you can come out. We’re locking you in until then.”
Cardinals in conclave don’t leave unless there is a serious illness.
“They were selecting popes one after the other,” Duprey said.
“Peter was first and Francis, the 266th. This conclave will select the 267th.”
FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD
Most of the cardinals eligible to vote were selected to their post by Pope Francis, who was the first Jesuit and the first from the Americas elected to the papacy.
“They are coming from all over the world,” Duprey said.
“They are like a sequestered jury. The concept of sequestering is not an unusual one in the history of making decisions. It has been used in the church for centuries.”
Cardinals selected by Pope Benedict or Pope John Paul II have aged out of voting for the most part.
“When Pope John Paul II died, he was in place for over 25 years, so almost all the cardinals were selected by him. People think that because the pope selected them, they are going to be like the pope is. But that doesn’t always happen that way. I think that was true of Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II. They were looking to select cardinals that would be representative all over the world.”
There are 252 cardinals, who originate from the four hemispheres.
“There were a lot more cardinals under Pope Francis and the previous two popes from Asia, Africa, Latin America,” Duprey said.
“Traditionally, they were European-centric. Now, they are balancing that out. There are cardinals from the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Africa, and many times Latin America. Pope Francis was from Argentina. For several centuries, all of the popes were selected out of Italy. But that wasn’t always true. There were cardinals selected to be popes selected from Africa before. They were born and lived in North Africa in particular. That was very Christian at one point.”
The cardinals attended Mass this morning, and will have one vote this afternoon.
Today in Rome, it is doubtful Dominique François Joseph Mamberti, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura (proto-deacon) and appointed to cardinal by Pope Francis in 2015, will declare, “Habemus papam,” “We have a pope” from St. Peter’s Basilica’s central balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
“Supposedly, a pope could be selected that very first time,” Duprey said.
“Very unusual. Usually, it takes them the average of three days in the last 100 years or so. Pope Francis was selected on the third day.”