Voting Begins To Elect A New Pope!

On May 7, 2025, the conclave to elect a new pope began, with a Vatican official calling out 'extra omnes' and the door to the Sistine Chapel shutting.

The order by Archbishop Diego Ravelli allows the beginning of voting to elect the 267th pope to follow Pope Francis, history's first Latin American pontiff.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state under Pope Francis and himself a leading contender to be elected as pope, is presiding over the 2025 papal conclave.

IMAGE: Cardinals pray in the Sistine Chapel ahead of the conclave to elect the next pope at the Vatican. Photograph: Vatican Media/Reuters

IMAGE: Cardinals pray in the Sistine Chapel, here and below. Photograph: Vatican Media/Handout via Reuters

Photograph: Vatican Media/Handout via Reuters

IMAGE: Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli closes the doors of the Sistine Chapel. Photograph: Vatican Media/Handout via Reuters

IMAGE: People gathered in St Peter's Square watch a screen showing cardinals in the Sistine Chapel, on the first day of the conclave to elect the new pope. Photograph: Amanda Perobelli/Reuters

IMAGE: Firefighters install a chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, ahead of the conclave.
After each round of voting, the votes are burnt and the smoke released via the chimney.
Black smoke indicates that a new pope has not been elected; white smoke indicates that the next head of the Catholic church has been selected. Photograph: Vatican Media/Handout/Reuters

IMAGE: The chimney is set on the roof of the Sistine Chapel. Photograph: Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters

IMAGE: Clerical robe tailor Raniero Mancinelli and his nephew Lorenzo Di Toro work on one of the three white Pope cassocks they have created, to be delivered to the Vatican, at Mancinelli's liturgical vestments shop near the Vatican. Photograph: Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters

Photographs curated by Anant Salvi/Rediff and Manisha Kotian/Rediff
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff