Everything we know about the first day of the papal conclave Black smoke rising from the Sistine Chapel chimney on Wednesday and again Thursday morning indicated that a new pope had not yet been ...

Here’s a breakdown of how the length of conclaves has changed in recent years. The longest conclave in history—and how it came to be The death of Pope Clement VI in 1268 led to quite a crisis ...

The shortest was the conclave that elected Pius XII in 1939, which took three ballots in two days. Cardinals must reach a two-thirds majority to elect a pope.

We have white smoke! 133 voting cardinals elect a new pope on Thursday, May 8, 2025, on the second day of the conclave. Cardinal Robert Prevost has become the 267th pope, the first U.S. pontiff in ...

The conclave — the highly secretive ritual of selecting a new pope — began on Wednesday, following Pope Francis' death on April 21. A group of 133 cardinals from the College of Cardinals met ...

And once the conclave began, Pope Crave was both posting memes and reporting live from the Vatican, through fans on the ground who reached out to the account on X.

How watch a livestream showing conclave smoke USA TODAY will livestream coverage of the conclave's first day between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 8. Watch the livestream at top of this story.

A bird flies near the chimney on the Sistine Chapel roof, on the second day of the conclave to elect a new pope at the Vatican. REUTERS Back then, the rules were also intended to ease cardinals ...