What happens now and who are the candidates to be the next Pope?

The Catholic world has been cast into uncertainty when Pope Francis died at the age of 88 on Easter Monday.

Devotees were bracing themselves for his death during the weeks he spentin hospital with an infection, pneumonia and difficulty breathing.

But he had recovered enough to give a traditional Easter Sunday blessing from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica after meeting US President JD Vance.

Hours later, Pope Francis died, leaving millions of followers wondering who their next pope will be.

What happens now the Pope has died?

The Pope’s death was confirmed by Vatican on Monday morning.

The current cardinal chamberlain, camerlengo in Italian, Kevin Joseph Farrell, automatically became the Vatican’s top administrator, charged with revealing to the world the pope has passed.

The pope’s body, dressed in a white cassock, would be taken to a private chapel where Farrell, church officials and the pope’s family would watch Francis be placed into a coffin.

How is a next Pope chosen?

That’s up to the College of Cardinals to decide. The time between a pope dying and the election of a new one is called the sede vacante, or ‘the seat is vacant’.

The 266th pontiff of the Catholic Church does not have a successor in the traditional sense. Technically, any baptized Roman Catholic man could replace him.

But the Vatican has a raft of time-honoured traditions – many secret – that pick the next sovereign of Vatican City.

When the wrangled cardinals meet at the Sistine Chapel, they will pick a pope by secret ballot in a process called the conclave, Latin for ‘the key’.

A two-thirds majority is needed and only cardinals under the age of 80 can vote – and they’ll likely have to vote a fair few times. The cardinals, called cardinal electors, will keep ticking boxes until a majority is reached.

And we’ll know when this happens. After every vote, smoke will be released into St Peter’s Square. If the smoke is white, the world has a new pope. If it’s black, no majority was reached.

Once the smoke clears, the college dean, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, will ask the chosen successor if they want to wear the cassock.

Once – if – they say yes, the new pontiff will be dressed in white and walk to the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica.

‘Habemus papam,’ a Vatican official will say, or, ‘We have a pope,’ in English.

Who will be the next Pope?

There are 22 strong names on the list, according to the College of Cardinals Report.

But the bookies’ favourite is Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, who could be the world’s first Asian Pope. He has 3:1 odds.

Long considered a pope-to-be for his more relaxed, progressive views in line with Francis’, Tagle has criticised the church’s historic treatment of LGBTQ+ people and other groups.

‘The harsh words that were used in the past to refer to gays and divorced and separated people, the unwed mothers etc, in the past they were quite severe,’ he said in 2015.

‘Many people who belonged to those groups were branded and that led to their isolation from the wider society.’

Hot on his heels is continuity candidate Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The Vatican’s secretary of state since 2013 and a longtime diplomat, he is often seen as a safe pair of hands within the church. His odds are 4:1.

Cardinal Angelo Scola, 82, is another long-standing papal contender. He was one of the frontrunners in the 2013 conclave that ultimately elected Pope Francis.

Cardinal Peter Erdö, the former president of the Council of Bishops Conferences of Europe and Hungary’s most powerful prelate, is widely seen as the strongest right-wing frontrunner.

Erdö, whose odds of becoming pope are 7/1, has been critical of marriage equality, the idea of divorced Catholics taking part in Holy Communion and European countries accepting asylum seekers.

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu has been similarly on the other side of the current pope’s beliefs.

From the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Besungu once said the Fiducia supplicans, the Vatican’s declaration on same-sex blessings, does not apply to Africa.

Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, meanwhile, has never shied away from topics considered taboo to church officials, from HIV to climate change.

‘If God would wish to see a black man also as pope, thanks be to God,’ he said in 2009. He has 5:1 odds.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, among Francis’s most vocal critics, is also seen as a strong contender. He has described the more relaxed language Francis uses around LGBTQ+ rights and artificial contraception as ‘objectionable’.

‘I’ve lived long enough to even have people who opposed me very strongly, years later corresponding with me telling me they understood finally what it was that I was doing,’ Burke told The New York Times in 2019.

‘These things are natural, but I don’t think the church ever serves her mission by compromising with the world.’

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, sees the world a little differently.

Often described as Francis’ ‘favourite’, Zuppi has often stressed inclusivity and social justice, such as developing a fresh pastoral approach with ‘our LGBT brothers and sisters’.

‘True courage is knowing how to choose, understand, and find a compromise that looks toward the future,’ he told Vatican News last year.

How do popes get their names?

Pope’s don’t have to pick a new name when they’re elevated to the highest office in Catholicism. But often they do.

There are no rules stipulating which names must be chosen, but often the name honours a predecessor or has a religious meaning.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis, in honour of St Francis of Assisi, famed for embracing a life of poverty.

His predecessor Joseph Alois Ratzinger renamed himself Benedict XVI, a popular papal name meaning ‘blessed’.

Pope John Paul II, who came before them, picked two of Jesus’s disciples for is papal name.

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