The 133 Cardinals votes return this Thursday (08.05.2025) to the Sistine Chapel for the second chapter of the uncertain conclave that will choose the successor of Pope Francis in the midst of deep fractures in the Catholic Church.
In the first and only vote on the inaugural Wednesday, no name reached the two -thirds majority to get the White Small that announces the “Habemus Papam.”
The smoke was black, without surprises. “Bergoglist” and conservatives must reach an agreement on the new spiritual leader of 1,400 million Catholics.
Francisco was a Pontiff Pastor, focused on the poor, migrants and marginalized, and reached regions normally ignored by the Church. But his pontificate generated resistance among those who now bet on a change more focused on doctrine.
The cardinals now vote four times a day: two in the morning and two in the afternoon. Unless there is consensus about the Pope, the ballots are burned in a stove at the end of the two votes. With chemicals, the color is given.
“I’m glad that they have taken so long because that means that they are thinking well who the Pope will be,” Barbara Mason told AFP, a Canadian who was among the 50,000 people who went to the San Pedro Square on the first day of the conclave.
Benedict XVI and Francisco’s elections took two days. Most cardinals estimate a maximum of three on this occasion; The most pessimistic, five.
The details of the first vote will not be known, nor of the rest of the conclave, except if the future Pope authorizes it.
Mg (AFP, AP)
