Conclave protocol: Are all Cardinals still candidates after the first ballot?

Question by BigJoe:

My Lord Bishop, during the conclave, if the first ballot fails to produce a pope, will all the cardinal electors in the second round of voting be considered candidates for elections, or will the voting be limited to the two cardinals who obtained the highest number of votes in the first ballot?

Answer by Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu:

The election of a pope is governed by the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis (Of the Lord’s Whole Flock), promulgated by Pope John Paul II on 22 February 1996.  This document outlines the procedures to be followed after the death or resignation of a pope.

It carries the full authority of papal legislation and supersedes previous documents.  It was later amended by Popes Benedict XVI and Francis.  When a pope dies or resigns, the College of Cardinals under the age of 80 gathers in the Sistine Chapel for a conclave to elect his successor. The process begins with a solemn oath of secrecy and the traditional extra omnes command, whereby all non-cardinals are dismissed from the chapel.

On the first day of the conclave, a single ballot may be held. In this initial vote, all cardinal electors are eligible to be voted for – there is no formal nomination process or declared candidacy. Each cardinal writes the name of his chosen candidate on a paper ballot, folds it, and places it in a designated urn on the altar. If no one receives the required two-thirds majority, the conclave proceeds to additional rounds of voting.

Beginning the next day, the cardinals typically hold two ballots in the morning and two in the afternoon. In each of these subsequent rounds, all cardinal electors continue to be eligible as candidates, regardless of how many votes they received in earlier ballots.

There is no rule restricting the choice of electors to the top vote-getters from previous ballots. The electors are free to shift their support, and a cardinal who had received few or no votes earlier may emerge as a consensus choice in a later round. The two-thirds majority requirement remains in force throughout the voting process.

However, if after thirty-four ballots (including the first), no one has achieved the necessary two-thirds vote, the cardinals may, by majority decision, choose to proceed differently. They can agree to limit the field to the two candidates who received the most votes in the last ballot.

At this stage, only those two can be voted for in the next rounds, and they themselves lose the right to vote in that decisive ballot. This special provision, intended to resolve prolonged deadlocks, was introduced by Pope John Paul II and later modified by Pope Benedict XVI, who reinstated the two-thirds majority requirement in all cases. Pope Francis maintained these norms.

In summary, after the first ballot fails to elect a pope, the second and subsequent ballots are not restricted to the top two candidates from the previous vote. All cardinal electors remain eligible to be voted for until someone secures the required two-thirds majority.

Only after a long impasse may the electors opt to narrow the choice to the top two candidates, and even this requires a majority vote of the conclave.  Once a cardinal achieves the necessary majority and accepts his election, he becomes pope immediately and chooses his papal name, after which the senior cardinal deacon announces his election to the world with the traditional Habemus Papam.