--- description: Catholic cardinals gather and sequester themselves in the Vatican for the start of a conclave to elect a new pope. title: Watch: Cardinals Sequester In The Vatican For The Conclave image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0eabfc2f7797031e/6998c66fd32e93d61ccd6fae/GettyImages-2213248835_13d725.jpg?branch=production ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Italy](/tag/italy/) ## Italy Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch: Catholic Cardinals Sequester Themselves in the Vatican For The Start of The Conclave by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 7, 2025 2:34 PM CUT  VATICAN CITY, VATICAN, MAY 07: Cardinals attend a Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice Mass ahead of the Conclave in which they are called to elect a new Pope, at the Vatican on May 7, 2025\. (Photo by Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu via Getty Images) VATICAN CITY, VATICAN, MAY 07: Cardinals attend a Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice Mass ahead of the Conclave in which they are called to elect a new Pope, at the Vatican on May 7, 2025\. (Photo by Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu via Getty Images)Anadolu via Getty Images—2025 Anadolu by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 7, 2025 2:34 PM CUT Catholic cardinals gather and sequester themselves behind the Vatican walls for the start of a conclave to elect the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, a successor to Pope Francis who died in April at the age of 88. ### More from TIME ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7283434/watch-catholic-sequester-conclave/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7283434/watch-catholic-sequester-conclave/"},"headline":"Watch: Catholic Cardinals Sequester Themselves in the Vatican For The Start of The Conclave","datePublished":"2025-05-07T14:34:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-11T00:26:03.331Z","description":"Catholic cardinals gather and sequester themselves in the Vatican for the start of a conclave to elect a new pope.","url":"https://time.com/7283434/watch-catholic-sequester-conclave/","keywords":["Italy","News","video"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0eabfc2f7797031e/6998c66fd32e93d61ccd6fae/GettyImages-2213248835_13d725.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0eabfc2f7797031e/6998c66fd32e93d61ccd6fae/GettyImages-2213248835_13d725.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice Mass at the Vatican","caption":"Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice Mass at the Vatican","creditText":"Anadolu via Getty Images—2025 Anadolu","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/italy/","name":"Italy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7283434/watch-catholic-sequester-conclave/","name":"Watch: Catholic Cardinals Sequester Themselves in the Vatican For The Start of The Conclave"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"White Smoke Signals New Pope Chosen","description":"Catholic cardinals gather and sequester themselves in the Vatican for the start of a conclave to elect a new pope.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/L5KFCKB4/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2025-05-08T16:33:59.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/L5KFCKB4.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/7283434/watch-catholic-sequester-conclave/","duration":"PT1M5S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/7283434/watch-catholic-sequester-conclave/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```