(NewsNation) — In just four days, one of the few truly mysterious gatherings of the modern world will begin.
Some 133 cardinals enter the Sistine Chapel and are locked inside, tasked with choosing the next leader of the Catholic Church, the picking of the pope — a centuries-old selection process so confidential that the cardinals will be on a strict diet to prevent secret messaging.
If no candidate reaches the two-thirds needed to be elected as the next pontiff, we will see black smoke until the cardinals come to a consensus, which will bring with it white smoke.
This will be the most diverse and largest conclave in the history of the Catholic Church, many of whose members were appointed by Pope Francis himself.
To this day, much mystery surrounds the Conclave, a process that consists of secret votes, political intrigue and, of course, faith.
It is the third conclave of this century. Cardinals take an oath of secrecy with the penalty for violating it being excommunication.
“Ironically, we know a great deal more about what happened in conclaves 500 years ago because all of those letters are sitting around in state archives in Paris, Vienna, Madrid and so on,” Dr. Miles Pattenden, University of Oxford, told NewsNation.
“Whereas today, the Church is much better at keeping things secret. That’s why every cardinal has to give up his mobile phone before he goes into the Sistine Chapel.”
Yet there is no absence of technology. Vatican police are deploying signal jammers and sweeping for cameras and recording devices.
Windows of the Sistine Chapel are taped up with privacy film to guard against everything from surreptitious satellite imagery to AI-powered lip reading.
Despite the Renaissance uniforms and axe-bladed halberds of the Swiss Guard, the Vatican’s army is armed to the teeth with machine guns and high-tech weaponry to ensure the safety of the sequestered cardinals.
Inside, the conclave process has stayed virtually unchanged for 800 years. On Wednesday, after celebrating Mass, the cardinal electors will walk in procession to the Sistine Chapel.
There, under the frescoes of Michelangelo, the potential future popes will take an oath of absolute secrecy before the master of ceremonies will expel onlookers with a simple Latin phrase “extra omnes” — or, “everyone out.”
The doors of the Sistine Chapel will close to prying eyes before the cardinals sit for the opening vote.
“Each of the cardinals writes on a slip of paper, which says in Latin something along the lines, ‘I choose as pope’ followed by the name. They are encouraged to masquerade their handwriting. These votes are counted and if there are enough a new pope has been elected. if there are not enough, they go to another vote,” former Vatican correspondent Philip Pullella told NewsNation.
A cardinal must gain the support of two-thirds of the assembly if he is to ascend to the seat of Saint Peter.
Hopefuls must straddle shifting alliances and ideological divisions. Conservatives eager for a return to tradition are pitted against reformists protective of Francis’ legacy.
Still, for all its earthly spectacle, the conclave is a process believed to be guided by the divine hand of the Holy Trinity.