How long could voting take?
Officially, as long as it takes.
The first ballot is expected to be cast this evening (early afternoon ET), according to the Vatican News, If the smoke is black, the cardinals will retire for the evening and get back to voting tomorrow, with the four ballots per day.
For the past century, it has taken between three and eight ballots to find a pope. Pope Francis, for instance, was elected on the fifth ballot in 2013.
But the longest conclave? That took nearly three years. We have to go back to the 13th century, but the conclave to choose Pope Clement IV’s successor took 1,006 days.
The citizens of Viterbo, north of Rome (where that conclave took place) were so frustrated by the process that they actually locked the cardinals in the room.
Which is how we got the name conclave, which again, means “locked room.”
We can expect this conclave to move along more quickly. It’s been almost 200 years since conclave took longer than a week.
