1. The Conclave begins after selected prayer done by each of the Cardinal-electors, after which then the Cardinal Dean or the senior Cardinal Bishop who is an elector (Cardinal Giovanni Batista Re) who will then ask if there is any need to confirm and re-explain the rules of the Conclave as written in the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, and the modifications made by the two Motu Proprios released by Pope Benedict XVI, or whether the election can begin immediately without any issue.
If there is no questions raised or no request for reiteration of the rules, then the balloting to elect the new Pope can begin in earnest.
2. According to the Apostolic Constitution, Universi Dominici Gregis, the election of the new Pope can only be done by scrutiny, that is through secret ballot, in which each of the Cardinal-electors write the name of the Cardinal or the person the Cardinal-elector wishes to vote for as his candidate for the Papacy.
3. Pre-Scrutiny period : Three Cardinal-electors are selected as Scrutineers, another three as Infirmarii, and another three as the Revisers. All selections are done by drawing of lots among the Cardinal-electors. Their duties are :
a. Scrutineers : Add up all the votes that the Cardinal-electors have submitted, and if noone obtains two-thirds of the vote, no Pope has been elected, but otherwise, the new Pope had been elected, with a necessary minimum of more than two-thirds of the vote of all the Cardinal-electors (For 2013 conclave, this requires at least 77 votes).
b. Infirmarii : Carry the voting slips for the Cardinal-electors who are sick and therefore unable to attend the voting directly in the Sistine Chapel. Their task is to obtain the votes from the ill Cardinal-electors and then place them in a sealed container and bring the votes back to the Sistine Chapel to be tallied by the Scrutineers with the rest of the votes.
c. Revisers : Revisers act to check the calculation and tallies made by the Scrutineers to ensure that all the calculations are done meticulously, faithfully, and without any modifications or changes.
4. Scrutiny Proper : The Cardinal-electors receive two or three ballot slips each, with a blank line representing the place where they should place the name of the person they wish to vote for (only one name allowed, otherwise that ballot is invalid). They write the name, and then they bring it one by one to the receptacle on the Altar of the Sistine Chapel for the votes, in the presence of the Scrutineers, and before they place the ballot slip, they recite the words :
Testor Christum Dominum, qui me iudicaturus est, me eum eligere, quem secundum Deum iudico eligi debere.
I call as my witness Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who before God I think should be elected.
Then they place the ballot slip into the receptacle, and then return to their respective places.
5. Once the ballot slips are all collected, the first Scrutineer shake the container to mix the votes, and then the last Scrutineer must count the number of votes inside the receptacle. The number of votes must tally with the number of Cardinal-electors (to avoid double-voting). If the number tallies correctly, the counting of the votes can begin. Otherwise, the votes are burned, and a second vote must immediately be taken.
6. For the vote counting, the first Scrutineer take one ballot paper, unfolding it, and taking note the name on the ballot, then pass the ballot to the second Scrutineer, who also takes note the name on the ballot, and then passing the ballot again to the third Scrutineer, who will then read the name on the ballot aloud to all the Cardinal-electors.
Only one ballot paper is allowed in each. If two ballot papers had been folded to make it look like one ballot, then if the name on both papers are the same, they count only as one vote. But if the names are different, they are invalid.
7. Once all the ballots are accounted for, and the names in them had been read out, the ballot papers are then secured together with a string to ensure that all the papers are in order, and the total votes are tallied together in order to get the number of votes that particular candidates receive in that voting session.
If no one receives more than two-thirds of the vote, then there is no new Pope elected.
If someone receives more than two-thirds of the vote, then a new Pope had been elected.
8. On the first day of the conclave, only one afternoon ballot may be held. Then if there is no Pope elected on that day, four ballots are held in the following days, with two ballot sessions in the morning, and two ballot sessions in the afternoon, until a new Pope is elected when someone receives more than two-thirds of the vote.
9. If after three days there had been no Pope elected, the voting session is suspended for maximum of one day to allow time for prayer and reflection among the Cardinal-electors, to allow them to discern carefully on their choices and pray for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in electing a candidate as the new Pope.
Seven ballots occur afterwards, and if the Conclave has yet been able to elect a new Pope by then, another day is taken for the same break period for prayer, which is then followed by another seven ballots, and then break if the Conclave still yet fails to elect a new Pope, and so on and so forth until the new Pope had been elected.
If until 30 ballots had passed, and no one has been elected as the new Pope, the Cardinal Camerlengo will ask the Cardinal-electors on how to best proceed with the election of the new Pope. With the Motu Proprio released by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007, the provision allowing the Cardinals to go into absolute majority (50% + 1 vote) had been removed, and therefore election will definitely have to be settled with more than two-thirds majority.
After that discussion (after the 30th ballot), the two names with the greatest number of votes will be selected, and if the two names belong to the Cardinal-electors, these two Cardinal-electors lose their right to vote in the next ballot, in which this ballot will only include these two names. The new Pope however has to be still elected by two-thirds majority out of these two names. (This is to avoid a certain group of Cardinal-electors who fail to secure two-thirds majority for their candidate to stall the conclave so that they can elect their candidate by absolute majority as previously allowed by the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, but such provision was removed by Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 Motu Proprio).
10. After two ballots (in the morning, and in the afternoon), the votes from both ballot sessions in the morning or in the afternoon, immediately after the second ballot session (morning/afternoon) is burnt at the special stoves prepared for that purpose. Colouring chemicals are then used to make the smoke either black or white depending whether a new Pope had been elected or not.
The smoke will then come out from the chimney linked to the stoves, which is placed on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, and will be the first sign for the outside world whether a new Pope had been elected. The bells of St. Peter’s Basilica and churches around Rome will also be rung when a new Pope had been elected.
Black smoke (la fumata nera) : No new Pope had been elected, more ballots to go.
White smoke (la fumata bianca) : A new Pope had been elected, and the Conclave has ended.
11. When a new Pope had been elected, the Cardinal Dean, or his Vice Dean if the Dean is elected Pope (as the case in 2005 conclave when Cardinal Dean, Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope), or the senior Cardinal Bishop present in the Conclave as an elector (Cardinal Giovanni Batista Re), will then approach the newly elected Pope, and ask him the formula of the acceptance :
Acceptasne electionem de te canonice factam in Summum Pontificem?
Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff?
He will then answer “Accepto or I accept” if he accepts his election as Pope.
Then he will be asked :
Quo nomine vis vocari?
By what name do you wish to be called?
The new Pope will then answer the name he wish to be called (Benedict for Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI, as there had been 15 other Popes named Benedict before him).
The names that the Popes had used in the past two centuries (from 1800) and what they will be like if the new Pope uses them in parenthesis :
1. John (John XXIV)
2. Benedict (Benedict XVII)
3. John Paul (John Paul III)
4. Paul (Paul VII)
5. Pius (Pius XIII)
6. Leo (Leo XIV)
7. Gregory (Gregory XVII)
12. After the newly elected Pope accepts his election, the Conclave ends, unless the new Pope says otherwise.
Continue to Part III here : https://petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com/2013/03/09/my-guide-to-the-papal-conclave-part-iii-from-the-election-of-the-new-pope-to-the-urbi-et-orbi-blessing-by-the-new-pope/
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