What Comes Next: Pope Francis’s Funeral and Conclave

More than 100 Cardinals from all over the world will gather to decide the next pope. The entire process could take around four weeks.

Pope Francis speaks during the weekly general audience, in Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican, on Feb. 12, 2025. Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters

Bells rang out from Vatican City on April 21, declaring that His Holiness, Pope Francis I, is dead.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Catholic church’s camerlengo—the Vatican official responsible for announcing the pope’s death and overseeing funeral and burial preparations—is now tasked with leading the transition to a new pontificate.