The Conclave is the meeting to select the new Pope, the highest representative of the Catholic Church in the world. The conclave is organized by the College of Cardinals in the Vatican City in Rome, a representative place for this society as the main headquarters of the Catholic Church. The conclave is held after the end of the papal period of the bishop of Rome with ongoing functions, usually this happens when his holiness passes away, but the last conclave that was held in 2013 was because Pope Benedict XVI decided to resign. the chair of San Pedro given his delicate state of health. The Pope as Supreme ShepherdHe cannot be dismissed from the Catholic Church, nor does he abdicate, since he is not king, he simply abandons his functions due to death or illness as the last case.
The word conclave comes from the Latin word " Cum Clavis " which means " Low key " that is, the cardinals responsible for deciding who among them will be the new pope are locked in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican, a place famous for its frescoes by Michelangelo in those that enact the creation of man and many more stories of life in the Bible. During this confinement, the cardinals, including the chamberlain, carry out voting in which a certain number of votes defines who will be the Supreme Pontiff, the list of votes establishes that the chosen one must have at least 2 thirds of the votesin question to be proclaimed. In ancient times the conclave was held with more extreme security measures, the interference of the church in the politics of the whole world made elections difficult and the conclaves could last for years, without reaching a stable agreement about who would be the new representative before the world of the Catholic Church.
The only contact with the general public that the cardinals have is through the expedition of smoke through a chimney, if black smoke comes out of it it means that the consensus has not arrived and that the election continues. When the white smoke appears, it is a sign that the Pope has been elected and in the middle of chants we proceed to the “ Habemus Papa ” on the balcony that adjoins the Basilica of Saint Peter.
