Cardinal-electors take an oath to maintain “absolute and perpetual secrecy” concerning “all matters directly or indirectly ...

Papal conclaves have featured calls of election fraud and bribery so gauche that riches were wheeled in on donkey carts.

The Sistine Chapel, with its awe-inspiring Renaissance frescoes, is a majestic stage for the Catholic Church’s most sacred ritual: the election of a new pope. But beneath the sacred decor, conclaves ...

Intelligence agencies have long gathered information to help their governments get a sense of who the next pope might be ...

Papal conclaves don’t just elect the next pope — they mark turning points in the history of the Catholic Church and, often, ...

In case you were wondering if this concern was a new one, the second issue ever of America featured an editorial on papal conclaves in which the editors argued (wait for it) that Austria ...

The longest conclave lasted almost three years. Thankfully, the timeframe has changed drastically in recent years.

The black and white smoke that emerges from the Sistine Chapel during a papal conclave is part of a longstanding tradition — ...

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground ... Luis Antonio Tagle are among the favourites to succeed Pope Francis ahead of the Papal Conclave, which begins on ...

VATICAN CITY—The cardinals were bitterly divided over the next pope. The Italian prelates wanted an Italian pope, the French wanted a Frenchman, and neither side budged for nearly three years.