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When the pope dies, an ancient but simple ceremony is performed before the cardinals are called to Rome to elect a new pope. The most senior-ranking cardinal enters the room of the dead pontiff and gently strikes his forehead with a silver mallet, calling the pope by his baptismal name. If he doesn’t answer by the third time, he’s pronounced dead.

Today, however, the pope’s personal physician is called in first, and he makes the medical determination that the man is dead before the senior-ranking cardinal performs the ceremonial ritual with the mallet. Then the pope’s ring (the Fisherman’s Ring) and his papal insignia are smashed so that no one can affix the seal on any documents until a new pope has been elected.

The pope handpicks bishops to become cardinals, and their primary function in life is to elect a new pope when the old pope dies or resigns. Because most modern popes live at least ten years in office (except Pope John Paul I, who lived only one month), cardinals do have other work to do instead of just waiting around for the boss to pass on. (For details about cardinals and their jobs, see the later section “Cardinals.”) Cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote for the next pope.

The limit of electors is set at 120, but at one point, Pope St. John Paul II (who was pope from 1978 to 2005) had appointed so many that the number of eligible voters reached 137. With retirements and deaths, only 117 eligible voting cardinals remained when he died in 2005. His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, created 74 new cardinals in five consistories (2006, 2007, 2010, and two in 2012), yet with retirements and deaths, in 2013 there were again only 117 electors when Benedict XVI resigned. (We explain consistories in the upcoming “Cardinals” section.) Pope Francis made 31 voting-age cardinals in 2014–2015. There were only 112 cardinal electors in 2016. Since then, he has created an additional 13 cardinals, of whom nine are cardinal electors. As of November 28, 2020, there were a total of 215 cardinals, 120 of whom are cardinal electors.

The electors can vote for any other cardinal or any Catholic bishop, priest, deacon, or layman, anywhere in the world and of any liturgical rite, such as Latin, Byzantine, and so on. Normally, the cardinals select another cardinal, both because they know each other better and because the number of cardinals to choose from is small compared to the 5,000 bishops around the world and more than 410,000 priests. Although extremely rare, if a layman is elected pope (as in the case of Benedict IX), he first has to be ordained a deacon, then a priest, and then a bishop before he can function as pope, because the authority resides in his office as bishop of Rome. If a priest is chosen, he needs to be ordained a bishop prior to being installed as pope.