VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Cardinals told RNS they now have a better sense of each other, despite having had little familiarity before the general congregations — the last of which was Tuesday (May 6).

In this conclave of strangers there is a “plurality of opinions, convergences and differences,” said Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, a nonvoting prelate due to his age, on Tuesday (April 29).

The unofficial conclave has already begun. Cardinals in Rome for Pope Francis’ funeral have been having informal discussions about the future leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, ...

Today, just over two weeks after Pope Francis’s passing, the 2025 papal conclave began. At 4 a.m. ET, 10 a.m. Vatican Time, the 133 voting cardinals gathered at St. Peter’s Basilica for a Holy ...

Black smoke emerged from atop the Sistine Chapel chimney on Wednesday night, May 7, indicating that more voting lies ahead amid the ongoing papal conclave. The cardinals will reconvene in the ...

A cardinal must be under the age of 80 to be eligible to vote in the conclave. Of the 252 members of the College of Cardinals, 138 are currently eligible to elect the new pope.

Not every cardinal can vote in the conclave: Those who choose the next pope must be younger than 80 years old, for instance. Of the 252 cardinals at the time of Francis' death, 135 are electors.

Only cardinals under 80 years of age can attend a conclave, but all cardinals can attend the general congregations. In 2013, they met seven times over a period of five days.

Francis changed College of Cardinals. Within 20 days of the pope’s death, a conclave consisting of 120 cardinals out of the 138 “princes of the church” who are under age 80 and can vote will ...

While Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Francis’ No. 2 official as the Vatican secretary of state, is rumored to be a favorite in the conclave, closely followed by Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio ...

The Vatican also announced that two unnamed cardinals will not take part in the conclave due to health issues. The meeting also coincided with the Vatican’s announcement that Cardinal Angelo ...