Vatican awaits white smoke on day 2 of Pope Francis succession process

Voting in the conclave is a highly choreographed and highly scrutinized process that involves non-electing cardinals — usually churchmen over the age of 80 who are barred from voting — taking on different roles.

Nine ballot-officials chosen by the junior cardinal-deacon help keep the ballot process fair and running smoothly. They include three Scrutineers, who announce and count the votes; the Revisers, who check the work of the Scrutineers; and 3 Infirmarii, who collect ballots from any cardinal too unwell to make it from their lodgings to the Sistine Chapel for the vote.

When it’s time to vote, the masters of ceremonies and the secretary of the College of Cardinals must leave the cardinal-electors alone in the Sistine Chapel. The cardinals then proceed to the altar and hold their ballots aloft beneath Michelangelo’s Last Judgment so that they can be seen by all present.

Each cardinal kneels for a moment of prayer, before rising and saying, “I call as my witness Christ the Lord, who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who before God I think should be elected.” He then puts his ballot onto the paten, or small plate, from which it is tipped into a receptacle shaped like a large chalice. The cardinal then returns to his seat.

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