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When a Pope dies

When a pope dies, nine days of mourning are declared and burial occurs between the 4th and 6th day after death.

Most popes are buried in St. Peter's Basilica, which is where the body will have lain in state for people to pay their respects.

Traditionally the body of the Pope lies inside a cypress-wood coffin, encased within a second one of lead with an inscription bearing the Pope's name and pontificate dates, which is in turn contained by a third outer coffin of elm.

The funeral is organised by the Cardinal Camerlengo (title of the appointed treasurer of the Holy See), who also organises the conclave which chooses the next pope.

The suspension of power

In a highly symbolic act, the Cardinal Camerlengo breaks the 'Fisherman's Ring', the gold signet ring of the popes. (At the centre of the ring is an engraving of St. Peter casting his net from a boat and the name of the reigning pontiff is inscribed on the rim). The act symbolises the suspension of pontifical power. This is the time of the sede vacante: Latin for 'vacant seat'.

A symbolic gesture of their power is shown through the practice of striking commemorative medals and minting coins bearing the heraldic arms of the Cardinal Camerlengo surmounted by the pavilion (a large ceremonial umbrella, striped in red and yellow silk) in combination with the keys of Peter crossed in saltire.

Vatican City postage stamps displaying this heraldic device are also created for the sede vacante.

Power within the church is now in the hands of the Sacred College of Cardinals. Cardinals must meet at the Vatican between the 15th and 20th day after the pope's death where they will stay in special accommodation while the elections take place. Around 120 cardinals take part in the election process (at the moment there are 195 cardinals throughout the world, but those over the age of 80 are not permitted to vote). They assemble daily in the Vatican Palace.

The vote requires a two thirds majority and voting continues until this has been achieved. If the cardinals cannot agree on the person to be elected, voting is suspended for a day of prayer and discussion before voting starts again.

Choosing the new Pope

Though it is their cardinals, gathered in the Sistine Chapel, who choose the new pope, Catholics believe that these men are simply conduits who are doing the Holy Spirit's bidding. This is what distinguishes the papal election from any other poll. The Holy Spirit plays His part and thereby ensures in theory that any pope wanting to decide his own succession by filling the College of Cardinals with men of like mind will be thwarted.

Catholicism teaches that each pope is the successor to the Apostle Peter who was chosen by Jesus as the rock on which the church was to be built.

Because of the role allotted of the Holy Spirit, each pope after Saint Peter is said to stand in a chain called the Apostolic Succession. (Legend has it that in the ninth century a woman, disguised as a man, was elected, but the Catholic Church dismisses the tale of Pope Joan as a fabrication.)

Round the dome of St Peter's Basilica in Rome, in letters six feet high, are Christ's words in Latin to Peter from the Gospel of St Matthew, chapter 16: "Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my Church and I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven".

It is again by way of acknowledgement of the hand of God in the papacy that popes do not retire. They relinquish office only when God judges it appropriate and takes them up to join Him in heaven. Only four popes have abdicated: Clement 1 in 97, Pontian in 235, Benedict IX in 1045 - though he later made a comeback - and Celestine V in 1294.

A simple, elderly monk, chosen as Pope as a compromise between rival candidates in July of that year, Celestine V stood down six months later when the strains of the job proved too much. He wanted to return to his monastery but instead was imprisoned by his successor until his death two years later.

The origins of the word pope date back to the early church, where it simply meant 'father' and was applied to all priests.

The man who is elected in the Sistine Chapel will first and foremost be Bishop of Rome. Again Catholicism links this office back to St Peter himself, though all the indications of history are that there was no single bishop of Rome for almost a century after the death of the Apostles.

The early church was slow to develop the office of bishop, relying at first on a looser association of elders. The first reference to the idea of an apostolic succession giving the Bishop of Rome special authority comes in the writings of the early Christian writer Irenaeus of Lyon in AD180. By AD250 the shrine to St Peter had been built at the Vatican.

Find out more

• The Pope
• Cardinals
• Vatican in pictures