On May 7, 2025, 133 Catholic cardinals will gather in the Sistine Chapel to choose the next pope. It’s a vote that could influence not just the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, but global politics as ...

NCR's 10 most-read news stories of 2025 include coverage of the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV, massive aid cuts by the ...

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, ...

The Issue: The election of American Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the next pope of the Catholic Church. We now have an American pope in Robert Francis Prevost (“Chicago pope,” May 9). Prevost ...

VATICAN CITY -- The temporary chimney atop the Sistine Chapel released a plume of white smoke on Thursday evening local time, signaling that the 133 cardinals working inside had reached a two-thirds ...

After a little more than 24 hours of anticipation, the telltale white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel on Thursday—signaling that the Roman Catholic Church’s 133 eligible cardinals had come to a two ...

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.

On May 8, I was coming from the gym around 9:30 a.m. I looked at my phone and my nephew had texted me notifying me that white smoke was emanating from the Sistine Chapel. He asked me who I thought ...

As a boy, I once told my mother that I wanted to grow up to be either the pope or a mud wrestler. She replied dryly that since I was not born Catholic, but American, mud wrestling was likely to be my ...

A popular saying in Vatican circles is that if you “enter a conclave as pope, you leave as a cardinal.” It implies the sacred and secretive process is no popularity contest or campaign, but rather the ...

Before his brother was elected as the new Pope, John Prevost played Wordle and spoke on the phone with his brother daily. But since his election and transition to Pope Leo XIV? Stream NBC 5 for free, ...