With Pope Francis remaining in a critical condition in hospital, millions of Catholics are praying that he will recover.

The Vatican provided a hopeful update, mentioning a ‘slight improvement’ in the Pontiff’s condition. He was hospitalized on Valentine’s Day due to an infection that progressed to pneumonia in both lungs.

But the plight of the Argentine has prompted discussion about what will happen when the worst news does come.

Following a pope’s passing, their funeral must occur within six days. During this time, the pope’s body rests in St Peter’s Basilica.

The Conclave, where cardinals assemble in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope, will not begin until at least 15 days after the current pope’s death.

The Vatican Chamberlain, currently Cardinal Kevin Farrell, will first certify officially that the Pope is dead by calling his name three times at his bedside.

The Pope’s office and private apartments will be sealed and the papal fisherman’s ring removed from his finger and broken with a hammer.

The body of the Pope will then be dressed in red robes with a white mitre on his head, and he will be taken to St Peter’s Basilica to lie in state for three days.

The Pope using a wheelchair at the Vatican, February 3, 2025 

In contrast to most of his predecessors – Francis revealed in 2023 that he will be buried in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood, rather than with most of his predecessors in the grottoes beneath St Peter’s.

Only cardinals who are aged 80 and under – so 138 of 252 currently – can vote in the conclave.

Cardinals will be locked inside the Chapel without access to technology or the outside world until a new pope is chosen by two-thirds majority.

The previous conclave – when Pope Benedict stepped down in 2013 – took just a day, but technically they can last weeks, months or even years. 

In modern times, they have tended to only last a few days. If after around two weeks of balloting no new pope has been chosen, cardinals can opt for a majority vote.  

The conclave’s first day begins with the ‘Pro eligendo Romano Pontificie’ Mass for the election of a pope.

Cardinals will gather in the afternoon in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace and then file into the Sistine Chapel.

As they do so, they will chant the Litany of Saints and the Latin hymn Veni Creator, which implores the saints and the Holy Spirit to help them in their decision.

The Conclave will take place in the Sistine Chapel. Above: Cardinals on the first day of the Conclave in 2013, after the resignation of Benedict

Pope Francis addressing the faithful form the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica after being chosen as the new pontiff, March 13, 2013

Standing under Michelangelo’s ‘Creation’ and before his ‘Last Judgment,’ each cardinal places his hand on the Gospels and pledges ‘with the greatest fidelity’ never to reveal the details of the conclave.

A meditation on the qualities needed for the next pope and the challenges ahead for the church is delivered by Maltese Cardinal Prosper Grech.

The master of liturgical celebrations then cries ‘Extra omnes’, Latin for ‘all out.’

Everyone except the cardinals then leaves and the voting can begin.

Each cardinal writes his choice on a piece of paper inscribed with the words ‘Eligo in summen pontificem,’ (I elect as Supreme Pontiff). 

One by one, they approach the altar and say: ‘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.’

The folded ballot is placed on a round plate and slid into an oval silver and gold urn.

In the past, a single chalice was used to hold the ballots. 

In line with tradition, Benedict lay in state inside St Peter’s Basilica (above, January 2023) and was then buried in a crypt underneath the building. Pope Francis will be buried in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood

But conclave changes made by Pope John Paul II in 1996 required three vessels: one for chapel ballots, another for ailing cardinals at the Vatican who can vote from their beds and the third to hold the ballots after counting.

Outside, in St Peter’s Square, tens of thousands of Catholics will be watching – along with millions more on television around the world – to see smoke emerging from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel after each voting round.

Black smoke means no decision has reached, white smoke means a new pope has been selected. 

The smoke arises from the burned ballots, and a dye is added to make sure the smoke is the right colour each time. 

Once the cardinals have chosen from among their number the master of liturgical ceremonies will enter the Sistine Chapel.

The prospective choice will be asked: ‘Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff?’

Assuming they say, ‘I accept’, the cardinal will then be asked by what name they wish to be known.

The new pope will then be given their iconic white cassock, before each cardinal approaches him to swear obedience.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re blesses the coffin of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI during his funeral mass at St. Peter’s square in the Vatican, on January 5, 2023

The Pope will then emerge onto the balcony overlooking St Peter’s Square, to address the jubilant faithful for the first time.

Preceding him will be Dominique Mamberti, the Cardinal Protodeacon. He will announce ‘Habemus Papam’, the Latin for ‘We have a new pope’. 

Pope Francis’s chosen place of burial is one of the four major papal basilicas. Seven popes – from Honorious III in 1216 to Clement IX in 1669 – were buried there.

But most, including Francis’s immediate predecessor Pope Benedict, are buried beneath St Peter’s.

Francis revealed his decision to be buried elsewhere in 2023.   

In a further break with tradition, new rites issued last year said Francis will be laid to rest in a single zinc-lined wooden casket. 

Pope Francis used to pray at the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore before and after trips overseas.

He made more than 100 visits to the fifth-century church, where he would pray in front of a sacred image of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus.