I lifted a passage from "Catholic Answers" on what happens when the Pope dies, but I've tried to condense it as it is a long read, with the author's personal commentary thrown in.
Our prayers and sorrow go out to the Holy Father Pope Francis and the Church he was tasked with shepherding. Please keep him in your prayers these next 9 days f...
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1. The Catholic Church has a careful step-by-step process for what to do when a Pope dies, and I thought it might be helpful to walk through each of the major steps.
.... parts of the process are actually quite ancient. Other parts are ever changing and even as (recently as) last year, so while it’s been centuries since there have been any major overhauls to the process, some important aspects, things like the Pope’s coffin, what happens to his body when he dies? These changes were made by Pope Francis himself in 2024.
.. (The Pope's) .. death is not announced right away, and that’s because there are certain steps taken to ensure that the Pope is actually dead. Now that is performed by what’s called the papal lingo. Now that role was performed by what’s called the Papal Cameron Lingo. ... Now, his role is normally administrative, but he is the one officially responsible for ensuring that the Pope is actually dead and he has some other important roles to play during this time. Now that that first step has occurred, we enter the second step.
2. Step two, the sea is vacant. We are now in what’s formerly called the Vacancy of the Episodic Sea. ... routine governance of the church now falls to the Cardinals, but big decisions are going to have to wait if they can for the next Pope....
Each Pope has what’s known as the papal curia ... but just as cabinet secretaries, like the Secretary of State lose their job when there’s a new president, the Cual officials can now no longer exercise their office with a few important exceptions. There are two men who don’t lose their roles since they have important roles in keeping the lights on in the Vatican as we await a new Pope and also in helping to facilitate the process by which we elect a new Pope. The first of those is the Pip Cameron lingo, who I’ve already mentioned. The second is the major penitentiary that’s the head of the Vatican judicial system... .
3. ... Pray for the Pope. This step is critical. .. We should be praying for Pope Francis.... Jesus Christ is the perfect offering for our sins, but we do still need prayers. ... And this is true in a special way for those in leadership positions like the Pope, to those whom the Lord is entrusted much, he demands much. In one Timothy chapter two, St. Paul reminds us to pray for kings and all who are in high positions and we’re reminded in Hebrews 1317 of the care we should show. ... Today, Pope Francis gave his account before Jesus Christ, his mediator, his Lord and his judge...
4. ... the papal funeral following the Pope’s death, there is a nine day period of mourning for the Pope. ... Why nine days? It’s a combination of spiritual and practical reasons ... This is the time between Jesus’s ascension into heaven and the descent of the Holy Spirit. The disciples are described in Acts chapter one as spending those nine days with Mary in prayer. ... So if you’re familiar with a novena, the nine day period of prayer, that’s the biblical basis for that practice. Nine days also is a pragmatic angle as well. We want to give the cardinals from around the world time to come back from celebrating Easter in their home diocese to gather together in Rome, both for the Pope’s funeral and to prepare for the papal conclave that’s going to follow.
Now, the precise time of the pope's funeral has not (yet) been announced ... but it typically happens four to six days into this nine day period of mourning....
The revised liturgical rubrics also foresee the possibility of a Pope being buried outside of the Vatican. In fact, Pope Francis himself won’t be buried in the Vatican. He’s going to be buried outside the Vatican, still in Rome at Santa Maria Maggiore the basilica of St. Mary Major.
5. ... preparing to elect a new pope in addition to being an important spiritual period for praying for the Pope. This is also a time in which preparations begin for the next papal conclave, the Dean of the College of Cardinals is responsible for preparing the papal conclave in this case.
As you may know, only cardinals .... who are under the age of 80 at the time of the Pope’s death ... allowed in the conclave. ... Now, amongst the 135 cardinals that are of voting age, most of them are in their seventies. You do have some younger men in the mix.
... in a quite short period of time, they’re going to be asked to elect a new pope. And it’s here. I suspect we’re going to see the non-voting cardinals trying to play an important guiding role. After all, there are 75 living cardinals who are now too old to vote, but who have participated in prior papal conclaves who know what that’s like. .... Now, this is actually part of a somewhat formal process. The whole group of cardinals come together and what’s called a general congregation. ... who are then given ... two well-prepared meditations on the problems facing the church at the time and on the need for careful discernment in choosing the new Pope. Now that first meditation is given before the conclave actually starts. The second meditation is given at the very beginning of the conclave itself.
6. ... the conclave and a new pope between 15 to 20 days from today, the papal conclave will begin. What that means, practically speaking, is this. The electors that is those electors eligible to vote will gather together in the Sistine Chapel, along with a handful of assistants who are going to help run things by gathering ballots, assisting in firm cardinals, housekeeping, providing food the like. Everyone involved, both the cardinals and anyone else helping in the conclave in any way is Zi told. They have to swear an oath of secrecy. ...
.... So how does one actually become the pope? Now, given the secrecy of the proceedings, we know only the scant test details about what goes on on a day by day basis. But here’s what we do know and what you can expect if you’re watching from home. Technically, the only requirements to become Pope are that you’re a baptized male Catholic.... (Hey, Xeno, want to send in your resume?
)
... What’s needed is a two thirds majority. Now, assuming that all 135 cardinal electors are able to participate, this means that the next pope will be the man that’s voted for by at least 90 of the cardinals present. .... it’s then time for the second of the two meditations. Remember, the first one happened before the conclave started. So whoever the cardinals choose is going to then preach to them on the issues facing the church, but also on the importance of choosing the next pope.
The cardinal electors at the end of all of this kind of orientation process will decide whether or not they think they’re ready to vote or if they want to wait until day two. Now, the system of voting is designed to ensure both that electors identities are protected and the process is safe from (being) tampered (with).
.... three cardinals names are drawn as infra. Their job is to collect the ballots of cardinals who may be too sick or physically incapable of presenting themselves at the altar to vote. Finally, the cardinal electors actually vote. Now, as I say, if they’re ready to vote on day one, they can. If they do, they only vote once in the afternoon. But real earnest voting begins beyond the second day, and which there are two votes in the morning, and then two in the afternoon or evening every day from there on until one candidate has two thirds or more of the vote. And as you probably already know, after each round of voting, the ballots are then burnt.
.... If a pope was not chosen, they’re burnt black. If a pope was chosen, they’re burnt white....
....Once a particular candidate has received two thirds or more of the vote, the Cardinal Dean asks two questions. Number one, do you accept your canonical election as supreme pontiff? He’s actually free to say no. If he does ... it's ...back to the starting point, or if he says yes, we move on to the second question by what name do you wish to be called?...
We then have an ... announcement announcing in Latin that we have a Pope, what his given name is, what his surname is, and finally what his new papal name is. So if you don’t know Latin and you’re just listening for the proper names, those are the ones to listen for in that order. So now hopefully you know what to look for and what to expect, and the days and weeks to come, and I hope that you’ll join me in praying both for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis and for the wisdom and guidance of the Cardinals who are tasked with electing a new Pope....
