What is a conclave? A guide to what happens after death of Pope Francis

Pope Francis has died, setting off a historical process that will see a new pontiff elected by more than 100 cardinals during a secretive conclave held in the Vatican.

Sealing the pope’s apartment. A gathering of cardinals. White smoke and bells rung. These are just some of the events that take place once a pontiff has died and while a new pope is chosen.

It’s all part of a long history of tradition dictating what happens now following the death of Pope Francis on Monday.

Pope Francis died at the age of 88, the Vatican confirmed to the public on Monday, capping the end of a tenure seen by some as one of the more progressive in the Roman Catholic Church.

The Pope died following health challenges over recent months, including hospitalization several weeks ago for pneumonia and a complex lung infection, which required high levels of oxygen and blood transfusions.

The immediate next steps dictate that when a pope dies, the camerlengo, or chamberlain — currently Irish-born American cardinal Kevin Farrell —  must certify the death and seal the papal apartment with red ribbon and seals.

The dean of the College of Cardinals then summons the members for the funeral, presiding at a funeral mass — and with Pope Francis, some of those will look different than in the past.

“Pope Francis has made some unique and in some ways, streamed down and non-traditional decisions just like he did unique, non-traditional things during his papacy,” Emma Anderson, a classics and religious studies professor at the University of Ottawa, said in an interview.

Among those “unique” decisions was not to be buried where most pontiffs have been, beneath St. Peter’s Basilica, instead choosing to be buried in St. Mary Major Basilica, where his favourite icon of the Virgin Mary, the Salus Populi Romani, is located.