Tag: Conclave

Catholics were appalled at videos of Dolce & Gabbana’s recent couture runway show on Rome’s historic Ponte Sant’Angelo. The “Alta Sartoria” collection blurred the sacred and the stylish with jewel-studded crosses, dramatic vestment-like silhouettes, and even a procession of “cardinals.” But is sacred art ever truly separate from commerce?

The importance of continuity and diversity as well as the issues of war and peace were a main topic of conversation for the 133 cardinals as they gathered to vote in the conclave 7-8 May, said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem.

Cardinal Robert Prevost, the Chicago-born prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under Pope Francis, was elected the 267th pope May 8 and took the name Pope Leo XIV.

Invoking the help of the Holy Spirit and recognising that millions of people all over the world were praying for them, 133 cardinals entered the Sistine Chapel with a singular goal: to elect "a worthy pastor" for the universal church.

After celebrating Mass for the election of a pope, processing into the Sistine Chapel and swearing a solemn oath of perpetual secrecy on the conclave proceedings, the cardinal electors cast their first ballot in the conclave.

I was saddened to hear of Pope Francis’s death after this painful last illness, because (despite what you might read elsewhere) I was never one of his harsher critics, writes Dr Philippa Martyr.

As the cardinals enter into the conclave to elect the 267th pope, Simcha Fisher shares her own light-hearted take on her prayers for their time together.

On the eve of the conclave that will decide the next pontiff, the ring and lead seal of the late Pope Francis were destroyed in the presence of members of the College of Cardinals in the Vatican's New Synod Hall. 

This will be the last in the papal interregnum series of LETTERS FROM ROME-2025. The conclave to elect the 267th Bishop of Rome will begin tomorrow with the Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff.

As members of the College of Cardinals met 5 May, all 133 cardinals who plan to enter the conclave to elect a new pope had arrived in Rome, the Vatican press office said.

While some of the cardinal-electors have been living in various venues around Rome, the entire electorate will have moved into the Vatican by Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.

As the College of Cardinals meets in Rome ahead of the 7 May conclave, Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chávez of El Salvador said the atmosphere is one of peace, fraternity, and shared faith—not politics.