‘Extra omnes:’ Cardinals closed in conclave begin the election of the new pope

Cardinals process into the Sistine Chapel as the conclave to elect the 266th successor to St. Peter, the 267th pope, begins on May 7, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, May 7, 2025 / 11:55 am (CNA).

With the proclamation of “extra omnes” (“outside everyone”) on the afternoon of May 7, the thick wooden doors of the Sistine Chapel were closed and guarded at every entrance by Swiss Guards while the 133 cardinal electors began the process of choosing the new pope and leader of the universal Catholic Church.

Seated at rows of tables beneath the gaze of Michelangelo’s powerful image of the Last Judgment, before any further discussions or the expected first casting of votes (called the “scrutio”), the cardinal electors will listen to a meditation from 90-year-old Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap, the former preacher of the papal household for 44 years.

According to the rubrics for conclaves, Cantalamessa — selected last week by the College of Cardinals — should preach to the electors on the very serious nature of their task and the necessity that they act with right intention, doing their best to carry out the will of God, and willing the good of the whole Church, to elect the next Roman pontiff.

Then, Cantalamessa and Archbishop Diego Ravelli, the master of papal ceremonies, will be the last two people to leave the Sistine Chapel before voting begins. The first view of smoke from the Sistine Chapel chimney is expected sometime this evening Rome time.

The session will close with an invocation to the Virgin Mary, the chanting of the “Sub tuum praesidium,” the Church’s oldest Marian hymn.

The rite of procession into the conclave and the swearing of the cardinals began from the Pauline Chapel in the Apostolic Palace at 4:30 p.m. Rome time. The cardinals, in order of rank, processed a short distance into the Sistine Chapel to the chanting of the Litany of Saints, followed by invocations, including a prayer that the Lord “grant to your Church a pontiff who pleases you with the holiness of his life” and “that you pour out upon this conclave the power of your Spirit.”

Inside the Sistine Chapel, each cardinal elector stood before his assigned seat, facing the Book of the Gospels, placed on a lectern in the center of the room.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state during Francis’ pontificate, intoned the “Veni, Creator Spiritus” and then, as celebrant of the rite, prayed: “O Father, who guides and guards your Church, give to your servants the Spirit of intelligence, of truth, of peace, so that they may strive to know your will, and serve you with total dedication. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.”

A moment of silence preceded Parolin’s reading of the oath each cardinal is required to take: “We promise, obligate, and swear that we will faithfully and scrupulously observe all the prescriptions contained in the apostolic constitution of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II, Universi Dominus Gregis… Likewise, we promise, obligate, and swear that whichever of us, by divine disposition, is elected Roman pontiff, will undertake to faithfully carry out the Munus Petrinum of pastor of the universal Church and will not fail to strenuously affirm and defend the spiritual and temporal rights and freedom of the Holy See. Above all, we promise and swear to observe with the utmost fidelity and with all, both clerics and laity, secrecy about everything that in any way pertains to the election of the Roman pontiff and about what takes place in the place of the election, concerning directly or indirectly the ballot; not to violate in any way this secrecy either during or after the election of the new pontiff, unless explicit authorization has been granted by the Pontiff himself; never to lend support or favor to any interference, opposition, or other any form of intervention by which secular authorities of whatever order and degree, or any group of persons or individuals who wish to interfere in the election of the Roman pontiff.”

Then, each of the 133 cardinals took their turn at the lectern, and placing his hand on the Book of the Gospels, said: “So help me God and these holy Gospels which I touch with my hand.”

Ravelli then declared, “extra omnes,” all assistants and ministers left the room, and the livestream turned off.