Pope Francis has passed away and now the Vatican is in a rush everything has to be perfectly coordinated or things can get really chaotic or Worse the Vatican has centuries of experience and has seen worst case scenarios that's why it has precise protocols in place verifying the Pope's passing moving him to St Peter's organizing the conclave down to the day and hour time is of the essence the first order of business before anything else is to confirm the pope is actually dead Vatican officials used to do this confirmation used to be in the room he
died in but it now takes place in his private Chapel there cardinal cingo the prelate in charge of the Holy Seas property and revenue takes the command of the Vatican between now and the election of a new pope he will conduct what is known as the Silver Hammer protocol in the past this meant tapping the deceased pontiff's head with a small all silver hammer and calling out his baptismal name three times the idea was quite simple if you don't wake up when someone's hitting you on the head with a hammer you're probably dead the silver
hammer was used at least until the early 20th century with Leo 13's death in 1903 it may have stayed in place as late as John 23's death 60 years later but you might be relieved to know it hasn't been used on Pope Francis the camer Lango currently Kevin Cardinal Ferell still called out George are you dead three times George was obviously not answering and so Cardinal farell responded I declare that his Holiness Pope Francis is truly dead just to make sure the camer Lango might continue with an instrument not a hammer but an electrocardiogram that
was how John Paul 2's death was scientifically confirmed in 2005 with his death confirmed Pope francis's body was placed in an open coffin right away although this is a recent change are you old enough to remember John Paul 2's funeral you would have seen his body it was placed in an elevated beer called a canaletto or deathbed Pope Benedict 16 was placed on one too but Pope Francis changed that idea in November of 2024 more on that soon for now the camareno and his men immediately sealed the apostolic Palace and began to take care of
the Pope's property to secure it from theft this tradition dates back to older times when there was a much higher risk of someone stealing the deceased Pope's property than there is now however some items are purposefully destroyed to preserve the Integrity of the Pope's office the fisherman's ring would have been the first thing to go as you can see this was what it looked like before Francis had a unique ring as all popes did before him and it was used to seal official documents it might not seem like much now but but in Old Times
official seals were vital to confer authenticity on documents and the tradition continues in the Vatican Cardinal Ferell had francis's ring destroyed to prevent forgeries until recently the destruction came from the same Silver Hammer that used to tap dead popes on the head things might have changed now though when Benedict 16 abdicated in 2013 his ring wasn't smashed in but cut up conveniently in the pattern of a cross either way Cardinal frell destroyed the ring in the presence of other high-ranking Cardinals it helps to have witnesses that can say this ring was indeed destroyed any documents
sealed in that pattern from here on out are known forgeries the lead seal of the Pope was also destroyed all other property is donated archived or in extremely unusual cases given to the Pope's heirs after seeing to the security of the deceased's body and vital items it's time for the Vatican to prepare for the public morning period but not all popes wanted to do this in the same way typically the Pope's body is involved the best modern example is John 23 who was embalmed with formalin a solution of verm Malahide containing methanol when his body
was exhumed in 2001 it was remarkably well preserved then Cardinal virgilio noi said at the time that it looked like he had only died yesterday embalming is not necessary though John Paul 2 chose not to be involved for Francis it will depend on his personal preference what will be necessary is the presence of the Swiss guards who will accompany the pope on his final Journey from the apostolic Palace to St Peter's Basilica the Swiss guards have been protecting the popes since Julius 2 requested their presence in 1506 that doesn't stop in death the guards stand
with their spikes and heavy armor protecting the Pope's body all day and night this Devotion to duty was seen very recently when the Swiss guards refused to leave Benedict 16 side after the lights in St peters's were ordered to be turned off they probably remembered 1527 when 147 Swiss guards laid down their lives to protect Pope Clement 7 from 20,000 attackers in the employment of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V you can bet that they'll stay by francis's side during these days too but where exactly will he be until very recently there were three different coffins
used ones of Cyprus lead and Oak but the famously modest Francis thought this was too extravagant so his body was placed in a simple wooden coffin lined with zinc and will be displayed to the public in St Peters for 3 Days on day four the pope will take his last journey to his burial place many of the Popes are still buried in St peters's there is a necropolis a literal city of the dead beneath it the Romans used to bury their dead in these necropole outside the ancient city walls since it was forbidden inside wouldn't
you know that the modern site of St peters's lies directly over one of them most Popes are buried in the vatican's Crypt but Francis won't be this is the Basilica of St Mary major in December 2023 Francis announced that he had chosen it as his final resting place while this is unusual it's not unheard of St Mary major is one of the four major papel basilicas and one of the seven Pilgrim churches of Rome Francis has gone to it over 100 times since becoming Pope six of his predecessors are already buried there anius 3 Nicholas
4 Pas 5 6us 5 Clement 8 and Clement 9 although it's not unprecedented it is retro really retro Clement 9 was buried here in 16 69 and no Pope has followed him since until now although the details are naturally kept secret the pope even in death will have more than the Swiss guards to protect him high-tech surveillance systems keep the Vatican and all of its residents including the deceased safe with Pope Francis set to be honored in the proper way the Vatican will next turn to a much less certain thing choosing his successor a week
after Pope francis's death the College of of cardinals will spend 3 days preparing for a conclave the name implies secrecy but that wasn't always the case it came after an election that took 3 years after Clement 6's death in 1268 the Cardinals met in the remote Village of bbo to choose his successor it was a convenient place at less risk of disease the villagers soon got mad though the process was taking too long they had to resort to Extreme Measures to get the Cardinals to make a decis ision like giving them only bread and water
or even tearing the roof off their building so they had to deal with the elements just leave already in the end they chose Gregory 10 in September 1271 but there was a catch he wasn't a cardinal he wasn't even a priest he was off on a crusade and took 8 months to get to the Vatican fortunately things are a lot less Troublesome now Gregory institutionalized the tradition from vbo and ordered that the Cardinals would get only one daily meal if a conclave lasted Beyond 3 days secrecy also became a lot more important the secret poo
conclave was forly organized in 1274 before then the Cardinals could talk about it to whoever they wanted and Pope Pas 10 introduced a secret ballot in the early 20th century the villagers wouldn't be able to tear the roof off the place today the conclave area is sealed off the Cardinals are sealed off too they aren't even allowed to watch the news let alone talk to anyone on the phone or on a computer and how about these during the last conclave in 2013 the Vatican installed Faraday cages and vehicles equipped with Jammers to prevent signals from
getting through there will probably be more Jammers now to guard against the presence of intrusive drones these measures might seem a little extreme but they've worked well so how long might we expect to wait to see the white smoke this time the conclave to elect Pope Francis was remarkably fast taking only a day from March 12th to March 13th Benedict 16's conclave in 2005 also only took a day from April 18th to 19th that doesn't mean there's only one round though a candidate will be elected if he gets a 2/3 majority from the College of
cardinals maybe that's not as hard as it was between 1268 and 1271 since the new pope will be one of them though there's not a requirement for it the last Pope not to come from the college was Urban 6 in 1378 though the Cardinal electors are familiar with each other there will still be plenty of black smoke like this it took five ballots to elect Pope Francis the four times before that black smoke came out of the Vatican signaling that there was no new pope yet how does the black smoke get its color it's usually
made of tiny bits of carbon while the white smoke that signals the arrival of a new pope is made of things like water vapor fuel Vapor or mineral Ash but what happens before that white smoke comes out the College of cardinals will ask the winning candidate if he accepts his election if yes he will be asked to assume the paple name then the white smoke will go into the air the newly elected Pope will dress in the typical white vestments behind the scenes meanwhile the senior Cardinal Deacon will appear on the balcony of St Peters
declaring we have a pope then the new pope will make his public debut on the balcony and address the crowd below after the public address the pope will go back inside and talk to the College of cardinals thanking it for its service and formally disbanding the conclave the new pope will choose a date shortly after his election this was once a solemn occasion with elaborate coronation rituals that hasn't been the case in a while though popes John Paul 1 John Paul 2 Benedict 16 and Francis didn't want such PP and decided on Modest inauguration ceremonies
instead do you think that will continue with the next Pope or might we see something grander bye for now [Music]
