Today 133 cardinals will enter the Sistine Chapel to begin the papal conclave, the secretive voting process that requires a two-thirds majority to elect the new leader of the global Roman Catholic Church.

The election to select the Church’s 267th pope follows the death of Pope Francis on 21 April, Easter Monday, at the age of 88 year old.

After holding their last pre-conclave meeting on Tuesday morning, the cardinals who will elect the next pope had less than a day to weigh their final considerations before effectively going into lockdown and casting their first vote in the conclave.

In the past few days, cardinals have met three times to discuss various challenges in the world and in the Church, and to underline the qualities they believe the new pope ought to have in responding to these challenges.

The final pre-conclave general congregation took place on Tuesday, 6 May, with the rest of the day free, allowing cardinals to move from their current residences to the Vatican’s Saint Martha Guesthouse, essentially a hotel for traveling prelates and other officials where Pope Francis lived, and where they will soon be under lockdown until a new pope is elected.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, is one of three English cardinals who will take part in the conclave that starts today to elect the next pope.

In the following short reflection, recorded just before leaving for the Casa Santa Marta residence where the cardinals will stay during the conclave, Cardinal Nichols talks about the richness of the general congregations – the twelve pre-conclave meetings of the cardinals – how the qualities of Saints Peter and Paul provide many of the necessary characteristics to guide a new Pope.

He also talks about how he will feel when those famous words “Extra Omnes” are proclaimed and the doors of the Sistine Chapel are closed to the outside world.

One of the most senior cardinals has stressed the importance of unity and prayed that the conclave will bestow a new pontiff who reminds the world of human and spiritual values by awakening consciences.

His comments came during a special Mass on 7 May prior to the start of the conclave that will open this afternoon in Rome to elect the next pope.

During the Mass celebrated pro eligendo Romano Pontifice – “for electing the new pope” – Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, Dean of the College of Cardinals, highlighted that they were standing above St. Peter’s tomb.

New York’s cardinal has severely criticised a vote to allow assisted suicide across New York State, describing the proposed law as “a disaster waiting to happen”.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan said that the Medical Aid in Dying Bill would turn doctors from “healers into killers” and will put pressure on “the sick, elderly and the depressed to end their own lives”.

The Bill is “contrary to everything we cherish” and “a terrible idea” the cardinal said after members of the New York State Assembly voted 81-67 in favour of the Bill.

A new law in the US state of Washington which requires “members of the clergy” to report to police cases of child abuse or neglect learned in the confessional is being looked at by the US Justice Department to see if it violates the First Amendment of the United States.

Senate Bill 5375 passed by margins of 64-31 in the House and 28-20 in the Senate, and was signed by Democratic Governor Bob Ferguson, a Catholic, on Friday.

“Protecting our kids, first, is the most important thing. This bill protects Washingtonians from abuse and harm,” Ferguson said.

The head of Catholics in England and Wales has taken the solemn oath of secrecy inside the Sistine Chapel as the conclave to select the successor to Pope Francis begins.

Cardinal Vincent Nicholas, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, is one of three English cardinals among the total of 133-cardinal electors who will choose the next head of the Roman Catholic Church and its 267th pope.

The bells of Rome have tolled. The See of Peter stands empty once more. With the death of Pope Francis, who reigned from 2013 to 2025, the Church finds herself again poised between grief and expectancy, with a conclave looming beneath the frescoed gaze of Michelangelo.

Smoke shall rise soon from the Sistine chimney, but before it turns white, the faithful must reckon with a subtler, deeper matter: how should a Catholic pray in this hour?

Not just for whom, but how.

Each day between now and the May 7 conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis, John Allen is offering a profile of a different papabile, the Italian term for a man who could be pope. There’s no scientific way to identity these contenders; it’s mostly a matter of weighing reputations, positions held and influence wielded over the years. There’s also certainly no guarantee one of these candidates will emerge wearing white; as an old bit of Roman wisdom has it, “He who enters a conclave as a pope exits as a cardinal.” These are, however, the leading names drawing buzz in Rome right now, at least ensuring they will get a look. Knowing who these men are also suggests issues and qualities other cardinals see as desirable heading into the election.

ROME – At times there can be an odd dynamic to a papal election, almost like a tape delay, according to which candidates get their real bite at the apple in the conclave after the one in which they attracted the most attention.

The United States government has warned Australia to halt its crackdown on free speech following the election of a left wing government for a second term.

The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor demanded that the Labour government Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ceased censoring free speech on American social media platforms.

In a statement, it listed examples of totalitarian behaviour by the Albanese government that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump found “concerning”.

As the cardinals of the Catholic Church prepare to gather in conclave for the election of a successor to Pope Francis, various issues facing the Vatican are on their minds, one of which is likely to be the Holy See’s present frosty relations with Israel.

Relations with the State of Israel are at their lowest level since diplomatic relations were established just over 30 years ago, a chill that followed the Oct. 7, 2023 surprise attack by Gaza-based Hamas militants that left 1,200 Israelis dead and more than 250 taken as hostages, and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza.

Of the roughly 100 hostages who remain in Gaza, a third are believed to be dead, according to Israeli Defense Forces.

One of Pope Francis’ popemobiles is to be transformed into a mobile clinic for children in Gaza.

Not long before his death, Pope Francis donated one of his popemobiles to be converted into a mobile clinic for children in the war-torn region.

The popemobile in question was reportedly the one Pope Francis used when visiting Bethlehem in May 2014, during his historic visit to the Holy Land. The vehicle has since remained on display in a public square in Bethlehem.

“The popemobile has been refurbished and upgraded to fulfil a new and hopeful mission: to provide medical assistance to injured and malnourished children who currently have no access to any type of health care,” Peter Brune, secretary-general of Caritas Sweden explained.

As the conclave to elect a new pope approaches, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is defending the record of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, former Archbishop of Manila, in addressing sexual abuse by clergy in the Southeast Asian country.

In a statement on Saturday, the CBCP said Tagle has advocated for a Church that listens and “acts decisively” to help victims of abuse.

The bishops’ conference did not explain the context of the 560-word statement, but the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that it appeared to be “a response to recent foreign media reports which accused Tagle of not being vocal enough about such cases in the country.”

There is an odd but prevalent fascination with the Catholic Church’s claim to miraculous divine intervention.

The dogma of papal infallibility is not well understood, even among some Catholics. There are many people, including Catholics, who seem neither to understand it nor believe it when it is explained to them.

But it fascinates people. The combination of a claim to supernatural intervention and the level of reliance on that intervention provokes strong interest and reaction—particularly when it is misunderstood; perhaps especially so.

ROME. We are in the midst of Sede Vacante, and I am sitting in the hot, early lunchtime Roman sunshine with Fr Gerald Murray, one of America’s leading conservative Catholic “media” priests, as well as a respected multi-lingual canon-lawyer. He is wearing a smart Panama hat along with his black clerical suit, and reminds me of Ronald Knox, the famous pre-war Oxford chaplain, scholar, priest and broadcaster who helped convert Evelyn Waugh and other intellectuals to Catholicism.

Fr Gerry is a longtime contributor and friend to the Catholic Herald. I can remember – in 2023, just after Fiducia Supplicans was issued, allowing blessings of people in same-sex relationships – sitting with him at Brown’s Hotel in London after lunch with Sir Rocco Forte, discussing how Pope Francis’s controversial legacy would impact the next papal election. “Oh, when I read this encyclical I thought the progressive pendulum now has to swing back the other way,” he said.

NEW YORK – The Catholic Herald, one of the world’s oldest Catholic publications, has announced new investors and a strategic partnership to drive its global expansion, digital development and the commercialization of its 137-year archive.

Award-winning filmmaker Tim Moriarty, founder and CEO of Castletown Media, has joined The Catholic Herald’s mission-aligned investor group as a strategic advisor. Fresh from the release of Carlo Acutis: Roadmap to Reality, Moriarty adds deep expertise in film, television and digital storytelling. Castletown Media will collaborate with The Catholic Herald on new digital initiatives and innovative content formats.

There is an old idiom at universities in the United States: “Sophomores act sophomoric.”

It means young people in their late teens often do stupid things, usually because they think they are funny. Often, members of a college Republicans’ group or the university’s Democrats’ group will say or do things with the intention of outraging their opponents, all in “good fun”. People expect the kids grow out of it, it is hoped, before they graduate.

In today’s world, with new technologies mixed with social media, one could excuse a 19-year-old trying to get a laugh on the eve of a big event like a papal conclave – say by using AI to mock up an image of himself as the next pope.

Both geographically and historically, the region of Andalusia in Spain is a crossroads of humanity. Bordering both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, it’s physically part of Europe but for six centuries it was known as al-Andalus and formed a key outpost of the Islamic world.

It’s perhaps fitting that Andalusia therefore would give birth to a papal candidate who seems to unify three different worlds in his own biography: 72-year-old Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero, who currently serves as the Archbishop of Rabat in North Africa and who’s also spent considerable portions of his career in Paraguay and Bolivia.

The bells of Rome have tolled. The See of Peter stands empty once more. With the death of Pope Francis, who reigned from 2013 to 2025, the Church finds herself again poised between grief and expectancy, with a conclave looming beneath the frescoed gaze of Michelangelo.

Smoke shall rise soon from the Sistine chimney, but before it turns white, the faithful must reckon with a subtler, deeper matter: how should a Catholic pray in this hour?

Not just for whom, but how.

The Catholic Herald has announced a landmark partnership with Longbeard Creative Inc., creators of the Vulgate AI platform, to develop its 137-year archive of faith-based content into a fully searchable, AI-powered database – unlocking new premium offerings for subscribers and opening the door to global licensing, multimedia content partnerships and academic collaborations.

Under the agreement, The Catholic Herald will retain full ownership of its archive, while Longbeard’s Vulgate platform will structure and index the entire collection, allowing readers and researchers to explore more than a century of Catholic journalism with unprecedented ease and depth.