Inside the Secretive Process to Choose the Next Pope After Francis’ Death

The death of Pope Francis triggered one of the most mysterious traditions of the Roman Catholic Church — the papal conclave, in which the College of Cardinals meets behind locked doors to secretly elect the religion’s next leader.

The Oscar-winning thriller Conclave was steeped in intrigue and infighting as fictional clerics vied for the church’s top post — but the film did give an accurate glimpse inside some of the meeting’s rules and rituals, which were established in the 13th century.

Today, there are 252 cardinals — an international group of bishops who have been elevated to higher leadership positions. But only 138 are under 80 years old and eligible to cast a vote.

Any baptized Catholic male can become pope, but a noncardinal hasn’t been chosen since 1378, when Italy’s Bishop Bartolomeo Prignano became Urban VI.

The conclave swears a secrecy oath in Latin in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel and remains sequestered until they’ve selected a successor.

The cardinals cast handwritten ballots on paper. A two-thirds majority is required for a candidate to be successful. Ballots are burned after each round with a plume of smoke funneled out of the chapel’s chimney to announce the results — black smoke indicates a nonconclusive answer, while white indicates a new pope has been named.

But the matter is not a done deal until the nominee verbally accepts his election to shepherd the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.