Mr Viral
The Vatican is streaming live views of St. Peter’s Square on its YouTube channel, NBC offers a “smoke cam,” and CNN created a 3D visualization.
Tyler Graham Associate Writer
Tyler is an associate writer under CNET’s home energy and utilities category. Tyler came to CNET straight out of college where he graduated from Seton Hall with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. For the past seven months, Tyler has attended a White House press conference, participated in energy product testing at CNET’s Testing Labs in Louisville, Kentucky, and wrote one of CNET Energy’s top performing news articles on federal solar policy. Not bad for a newbie.
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Macy has been working for CNET for coming on 2 years. Prior to CNET, Macy received a North Carolina College Media Association award in sports writing. CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of “Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the ’70s and ’80s,” as well as “The Totally Sweet ’90s.” She’s been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She’s Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she’ll be first in line.
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Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won “Headline Writer of the Year” award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism. Pope Francis, who died on April 21 at age 88, has been laid to rest at the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. Now, the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church begin voting Wednesday for a successor in an assembly known as a conclave. Only cardinals younger than 80 years old are allowed to vote in a papal election. While 135 cardinals come in under the age requirement of 80 and thus are eligible to vote, two withdrew from the voting for health reasons, so 133 will vote.
The word “conclave” is familiar to many non-Catholics now thanks to the Hollywood feature film Conclave, which was released in 2024 and is available to watch on streaming services.
Read more: Where to Watch Conclave, the Vatican Thriller About Electing a New Pope
How to follow the conclaveThere’s no way to watch the real papal conclave, as it’s conducted inside the walls of the Sistine Chapel and is private. The movie, while entertaining and well-reviewed, is a fictional version. But the major news networks will be covering any news about the event.
Perhaps the most interesting way to follow along is to tune in to the Vatican’s own YouTube channel, which is streaming a live webcam from St. Peter’s Square in Rome, the large public square outside the Vatican buildings.
The news networks are also creating innovative ways for people to follow the conclave. NBC News is offering a smoke cam, a webcam focused on the Sistine Chapel chimney where white smoke will eventually reveal when a pope has been chosen.
CNN has created a 3D visualization of what the conclave will look like.
USA Today has set up a YouTube channel to stream coverage of the conclave, beginning from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET (3 a.m. to 6 a.m. PT) on Wednesday.
CBS will broadcast a special report on the conclave anchored by Norah O’Donnell and Tony Dokoupil, beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
Who are the contenders?Several cardinals are considered potential strong candidates for the papacy. Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Italy is noted for his diplomatic efforts and alignment with Pope Francis’ vision. Cardinal Luis Tagle from the Philippines is also a prominent figure, recognized for his advocacy for social justice and poverty alleviation. And Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana is being discussed as a possible first African pope in the modern era.
Look for the white smokeAfter the cardinals vote and their ballots are counted, the ballots are burned, and chemicals are added to the flames to produce black smoke if there’s no majority. When a new pope has been selected, chemicals will be added to the flames to produce white smoke. Crowds gather in St. Peter’s Square to watch for the results.
In the movie, Ralph Fiennes stars as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, who spearheads the election of the next pope while investigating rumors about potential candidates. The film is based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris and is fictional — though it does represent some of the events of how actual papal conclaves take place. In March, the film won the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay.
The voting takes as long as it takesTwo-thirds of the cardinals’ votes are required to elect the next pope. The conclave occurs behind closed doors, and the vote tally is never made public.
The conclave can take days or even weeks to conclude. Although in the 13th century, it reportedly took three years to choose a pope, modern conclaves have been much shorter. Pope Francis was elected in 2013 on the fifth ballot on the second day of the conclave.
There can only be two rounds of voting per day, and a candidate needs two-thirds of the votes, plus one to be elected. If that majority isn’t reached after three days of voting, the process pauses so the cardinals can pray and discuss their options, CBS News reports.
No, Trump will not be popeAny man who is a baptized Catholic can technically be elected pope, but in reality, the next pope is chosen from the College of Cardinals. Cardinals are senior members of the clergy and are selected by the pope to serve as advisors to him.
Days before Pope Francis’ funeral, US President Donald Trump told reporters, apparently jokingly, “I’d like to be pope.” But as a non-Catholic, Trump is not eligible to be pope.
Trump also shared an AI-generated image of himself as pope on his Truth Social social media site last week. The official White House account reposted the image on X. Many did not find the image funny.
“We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter,” the New York State Catholic Conference wrote on X. “Do not mock us.”
Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, wrote on X that he was OK with the image of Trump as pope. Vance was not raised Catholic but was baptized into the faith in 2019. “As a general rule, I’m fine with people telling jokes,” Vance wrote.
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