Who gets a vote? What do those smoke signals mean? And is there really as much intrigue as depicted in Hollywood? Here’s what you need to know about papal succession. Pope Francis was elected after ...

A new papal election — known as the conclave — is set to begin following Pope Francis' death. The method the Catholic Church uses to elect its leader has stayed almost the same for 800 years.

A conclave to select the new head of the Catholic Church is now underway following the death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday. The transition process involves an intricate series of rituals and has ...

Following the death of Pope Francis on Monday, April 21, at the age of 88, more than 1 billion Catholics around the world wait with baited breath for the white smoke to emit from the Sistine Chapel, ...

Pope Francis died this Easter Monday of a stroke and heart failure. His passing followed a final message on Easter Sunday, in which the 88-year-old expressed his hope for peace and a ceasefire in Gaza ...

Pope Francis, the Roman Catholic Church's leader for the last 12 years, died at age 88 on Monday. In the days following a pope's death or resignation, the Vatican is tasked with both honoring the ...

VATICAN CITY -- Black smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney on Wednesday, signaling that no pope had been elected as 133 cardinals opened the secretive, centuries-old ritual to choose a new ...