Pope Leo XIV, right, stands in the Sistine Chapel among cardinals after being elected at the Vatican on May 8, 2025. He ...

The smoke billowed out at 9 p.m. Wednesday, some four hours after 133 cardinals solemnly entered the Sistine Chapel, took their oaths of secrecy and formally opened the centuries-old ritual.

As the papal conclave is set to begin to elect a new pope, the eyes of the world are on the Sistine Chapel, which will hold the Catholic cardinals as they cast their votes for the next leader of the ...

Vatican technicians are securing what on Wednesday will arguably become the world's most beautiful bunker, making sure that what happens in the Sistine Chapel stays in the Sistine Chapel.

After the ballots are pierced, they are burned in a cylindrical stove at the end of the voting session. Black smoke from the ...

Black smoke pours from Sistine Chapel after Cardinals fail to elect pope - The smoke signals that the 133 cardinals have voted but haven’t reached a two-thirds consensus required to elect a successor ...

This process, known as the conclave, will start on May 7 at the Sistine Chapel, which closed to the public yesterday in preparation. Though the conclave has been held at various venues over the ...

Besides being the pope's main chapel, the Sistine Chapel has been the site of the conclave, the election that selects a new pope when there is a vacancy. About 135 cardinals will gather in the ...

This livestream has ended. White smoke is pouring out of the Sistine Chapel chimney, signaling that a pope has been elected to lead the Catholic Church. That means the winner secured at least 89 votes ...

The cardinals are sealed inside the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City for the conclave to elect a new pope — but no winner emerged Wednesday night as black smoke billowed up from the Sistine Chapel ...

Vatican workers hoisted a chimney onto the roof of the Sistine Chapel, which will be used in burning the ballots for the conclave that will elect a successor to Pope Francis.

Whereas in the past, keeping the 133 cardinals on the enclosed Vatican grounds and locking the Sistine Chapel's thick wooden doors may have been enough to prevent information leaks, the conclave ...