Pope Dies on Easter Monday
Day After Surprise Sunday Appearance
Explainer: Process for the Death of a Pope…
…and the Election of New One
The death of a pope starts a centuries-old ritual involving sacred oaths by the cardinals electing a successor, the piercing of ballots with a needle and thread after they’re counted, and then burning them to produce either the white or black smoke to signal if there’s a new leader for the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics.
