April 28, 2025 at 9:05 a.m.

Conclave to elect next pope will begin May 7

135 cardinals are eligible
Cardinals gather in the New Synod Hall at the Vatican for their fifth general congregation meeting April 28, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Cardinals gather in the New Synod Hall at the Vatican for their fifth general congregation meeting April 28, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media) (Courtesy photo of Vatican Media)

By Justin McLellan | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The 135 cardinals eligible to elect the next pope will enter the Sistine Chapel to begin the conclave May 7, the Vatican announced.

The cardinals will first celebrate the "Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff" in St. Peter's Basilica that morning before processing into the Sistine Chapel that evening.

U.S. cardinals who will enter conclave to elect pope

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Here is a list of the U.S. cardinals who are under the age of 80 and eligible to enter the conclave May 7 to elect a new pope:

Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, retired prefect of the Apostolic Signature.
Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago.
Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, retired archbishop of Galveston-Houston.
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York.
Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life under Pope Francis.
Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory, retired archbishop of Washington.
Cardinal James M. Harvey, archpriest of Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.
Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, archbishop of Washington.
Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under Pope Francis.
Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey.

The Vatican Museums announced that the Sistine Chapel would be closed to visitors beginning April 28 to allow preparations for the conclave to begin. The preparations include the installation of a stove to burn the cardinals' ballots and a chimney on the roof to signal the election results to the world.

The date for the conclave was set during the fifth general congregation meeting of cardinals April 28, Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, told reporters at a briefing later that day. The general congregation meeting was the first after a two-day pause to allow cardinals to participate in the funeral rites for Pope Francis.

More than 180 cardinals attended the April 28 meeting, including over 100 cardinal electors. During the session, about 20 cardinals offered reflections on the state of the church, its mission in the world, the challenges it faces and the qualities needed in the next pope, Bruni said.

Topics addressed included evangelization, interfaith relations and the ongoing need to address clerical sexual abuse, he added.

The cardinals also discussed whether Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who relinquished the rights associated with being a cardinal after he was forced to resign in 2020, would be permitted to participate in the conclave. Bruni said no decision had yet been made, and Cardinal Becciu has been attending the general congregation meetings.

Looking ahead to the next session, Bruni said the general congregation meeting April 29 would open with a reflection by Benedictine Father Donato Ogliari, abbot of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome and a member of the Dicastery for Bishops.

As cardinals entered the Vatican for the morning's session, Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Stockholm was asked by reporters if he expected a long conclave. "I think it will be," he said, "because up to now we don't know each other."

Meanwhile, Cardinal Walter Kasper, former president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity who is past the age limit to vote in the conclave, told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that he hopes the cardinal-electors "come to a consensus on the next pope very soon, in the footsteps of Francis."



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