Sistine Chapel closes, conclave to elect new pope begins

Catholic cardinals have filed into the Sistine Chapel for the start of the conclave to elect a new pope to follow Pope Francis

The conclave to elect a new pope has officially begun, with a Vatican official calling out “extra omnes” and the door to the Sistine Chapel shutting.

The Latin expression means “all out” and signals all those who aren’t eligible to vote for a new pope to leave the Sistine Chapel.

The order, delivered on Wednesday (May 7, 2025) by Archbishop Diego Ravelli allows the beginning of voting to elect the 267th pope to follow Pope Francis, history’s first Latin American pontiff.

With all the pomp, drama and solemnity that the Catholic Church can muster, 133 cardinals on Wednesday (May 7, 2025) began the secretive, centuries-old ritual, opening the most geographically diverse conclave in the faith’s 2,000-year history.

Two by two, the cardinals entered the Sistine Chapel chanting the meditative “Litany of the Saints” as Swiss Guards stood at attention. The hymn, and the one that followed, implores the saints and the Holy Spirit to help the cardinals find a new leader of the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the secretary of state under Pope Francis and himself a leading contender to succeed as pope, assumed the leadership of the proceedings as the senior cardinal under age 80 and eligible to participate in the conclave.

Speaking in Latin, Cardinal Parolin stood before Michelangelo’s masterpiece “The Last Judgment”, and led the cardinals in a lengthy oath. Each one followed, placing his hand on the Gospel and promising to maintain utmost secrecy.