Photos: All ready in the Sistine Chapel for the 2025 conclave

After the solemn Mass “Pro choosing Pontifice”, all the voters will go to the Sistine Chapel to take an oath. There everything is already prepared for the conclave. The Vatican has spread new images.

The used furniture

The Sistine Chapel is furnished with 12 elongated wood tables, covered with two satin red Each site is assigned with a poster with the last name of each cardinal voter.

Assigned sites thanks to a poster with its last name

In addition to ballots, the cardinals have at their disposal a copy of the Apostolic Constitution The universe dominic of the flockpublished in 1996 by San Juan Pablo II. This document is clear that for the election to be valid, it requires a qualified majority of two -thirds of the voters.

Benedict XVI updated the standards in June 2007 to accelerate the process so that, after the 33rd or 34th vote, proceed directly, and necessarily, to a vote between the two cardinals that most voted. In their site, they also have available a pen, simple but functional, with which the name of the chosen candidate and a red folder is written by hand, which serves as a support surface to discreetly write the ballot

In the background, the altar with the polls

In front of the altar, under the imposing fresco of the Final Judgment From Miguel Ángel there is a table covered with a simple tablecloth, on which two special urns rest, specially designed for the 2005 conclave and that are preserved so far.

In the first urn, the voters cardinals deposit their ballots after voting. The second urn is used to collect the ballots of the prevented cardinals, that is, those that due to illness or other serious cause cannot approach their vote personally. In those cases, a couple of cardinals scrutinizing are responsible for collecting their suffrage and placing it in this urn. However, in this vote, it will not be used.

The lectern with the gospel on which they will swear secret

In the middle of the Sistine Chapel, oriented towards the altar, there is a lectern on which the open gospel rests. It is one of the central elements of the input ritual to the conclave. On it, the cardinals votes individually, pronouncing aloud the Latin formula: And I N. Cardinal N., I promise, I vow and wide … (And I, N. Cardenal N., I promise, force myself and swear …) With this gesture, the sloping ones commit to keeping absolute secret about everything related to the election, not to receive external influences and vote freely, guided only by their conscience and the good of the Church.

The fireplace

5. The chimney that will announce with a white smoking the choice of the new Pope is made of cast iron, is 1 meter high and cylindrical shape. It is equipped with a lower door through which the cardinals will introduce the ballots that will be burned. In case of operation failure, the chimney is equipped with an automatic button to activate the smoke running in case of necessity.

Balls numbered from 1 to 133 and red thread

Each cardinal voter is assigned a numbered wood ball from 1 onwards, which serves to control the voting order during each scrutiny. The photo also shows the red thread used to carry out the count. Each ballot is skewered in a needle with this red thread that ends up going through them all to avoid manipulations and so that they can be easily counted.

Previously established voting order

During the conclave, the order of emission of the votes is determined by the order of ecclesiastical precedence, which follows a hierarchy established within the Cardinal College. As seen in this document, order is as follows. First vote the cardinal bishops, which include the Dean, the Vice Dean and other cardinals who hold episcopal titles linked to the old suburban headquarters of Rome.

The cassas that the new Pope will dress are already waiting for him

Once chosen, the new Pontiff will retire to the Hall of Tears, that is, the sacristy of the Sistine Chapel, to dress with the papal walls with which it will appear in public – for the first time – from the central lodge of the Basilica of San Pedro.

As the image shows, there are three white cassocks each of a different size to be able to adapt to the body’s body shape.