Even though cardinals don’t campaign for the job, there are always front-runners going into a conclave to choose the next pope. These candidates, known as “papabile,” have what are regarded to be the qualities to be pope. While any baptized Roman Catholic male is eligible, only cardinals have been selected since 1378. The winner must receive at least two-thirds of the vote from those cardinals who are under age 80 and thus eligible to participate. The sacred and secretive process is no popularity contest, but rather considered to be the divinely inspired election of Christ’s Vicar on Earth by the princes of the church.
This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
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FILE - Cardinal Peter Erdo celebrates the Christmas Day Mass in Esztergom Basilica in the City of Esztergom, 51 kms northwest of Budapest, Hungary, on Dec. 25, 2016. (Attila Kovacs/MTI via AP)
FILE - German Cardinal Reinhard Marx arrives for a morning session of a two-week synod on family issues at the Vatican, o, Oct. 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Cardinal Pietro Parolin attends at the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Catholic missionaries in China from an Italian religious order meeting, in Milan, Italy, on Oct. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
FILE - Cardinal Marc Ouellet arrives for a meeting at the Vatican on March 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - New Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, poses for a photo at the end of the consistory where Pope Francis elevated 21 new cardinals in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca, file)
FILE - Cardinal Robert Sarah appears for the presentation of Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke's book Divine Love Made Flesh, in Rome, on Oct. 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, left, and German Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller arrive for the morning session of the synod on the family, a two-week meeting of 200 cardinals and bishops from around the world, at the Vatican on Oct. 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Cardinal Luis Tagle appears in the Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome for the liturgy of the ashes presided over by Pope Francis on Ash Wednesday on Feb. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, FIle)
FILE - Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, head of the CEI (Italian Conference of Bishops), welcomes parishioners after celebrating Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow, on June 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
This combination of photos shows, top row from left, Cardinal Peter Erdo, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, middle row from left, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Cardinal Robert Prevost, Cardinal Robert Sarah, and bottom row from left, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, Cardinal Luis Tagle and Cardinal Matteo Zuppi. (AP Photo)
FILE - Newly elected Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, right, receives his biretta from Pope Francis as he is elevated in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca, file)
FILE - New Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, poses for a photo at the end of the consistory where Pope Francis elevated 21 new cardinals in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca, file)
FILE - Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn attends a celebration at the St. Bartholomew church at the Tiberine Island in Rome, Monday, March 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca, File)
FILE - Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, of Austria, attends a vespers celebration in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
FILE - Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn attends a press conference to present the post-synodal apostolic exhortation ' Amoris Laetitia ' (The Joy of Love), at the Vatican, Friday, April 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, left, talks with Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as he arrives for the presentation of his book Divine Love Made Flesh, in Rome, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, arrives for the presentation of Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke's book Divine Love Made Flesh, in Rome, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Cardinal Matteo Zuppi poses for photographers at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Cardinal Matteo Zuppi delivers his address opening the works of the 77th General Assembly of the Italian Bishops Conference at the Vatican, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
FILE - Pope Francis, left, speaks to Archbishop Matteo Maria Zuppi during his visit to Bologna, Italy, Oct. 1, 2017. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool photo via AP, file)
FILE - Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, head of the CEI (Italian Conference of Bishops) speaks during a press conference at The Vatican, Thursday, May 25, 2023, at the end of the 77th CEI's general assembly. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, File)
FILE - Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet attends a Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, on March 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet leaves after a meeting at the Vatican, Monday March 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Pope Francis, left, and Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet arrive at the opening of a 3-day Symposium on Vocations in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
FILE - Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet responds to media at a news conference about his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI as Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Wednesday, June 30, 2010 in Quebec City, Canada. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jacques Boissinot, File)
FILE - Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019. Parolin has been Francis’ secretary of state since 2014. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE - Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin speaks at the COP26 Summit, in Glasgow, Scotland, Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021. (Daniel Leal Olivas /Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin attends a ceremony where the Colosseum is lit up in red to draw attention to the persecution of Christians around the world, in Rome, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin smiles as he is welcomed by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier for a meeting at the Bellevue palace in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, June 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, file)
FILE - Munich and Freising Archbishop Reinhard Marx presents his new book 'The Capital' in Munich, southern Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
FILE - Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, gives a statement to the press in the courtyard of his residence in Munich, Friday, June 4, 2021. (Peter Kneffel/dpa via AP, File)
FILE - In this Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019 file photo Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the archbishop of Munich and Freising, leaves at the end of a media briefing during a four-day sex abuse summit called by Pope Francis in Rome. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
FILE - German Cardinal Reinhard Marx attends a press conference by Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi at the Vatican's press center, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, left, shows Pope Francis how to give the popular hand sign for "I love you" at the Mall of Asia arena in Manila, Philippines, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. (AP Photo/Wally Santana, File)
FILE - Pope Francis greets Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, archbishop of Manila, second from right, and group of migrants, during his weekly general audience, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 5, 2015 file photo, Pope Francis is greeted by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, right, upon his arrival at the opening session of a two-week bishops' meeting on family issues, at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - President of Caritas Internationalis Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle makes a point during a press conference announcing the launch of a campaign on the plight of migrants to counteract mounting anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S., Europe and beyond, at the Vatican press center, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Pope Francis, left, talks with Cardinal Peter Erdo of Hungary as arrives for the afternoon session of a two-week synod on family issues at the Vatican, Monday, Oct. 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Cardinal Peter Erdo officiates the Easter Vigil ceremony at the St Stephen's Basilica of Budapest for Easter Vigil services on Saturday, April 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, File)
FILE - Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erdo is interviewed by The Associated Press, in Budapest, on Thursday, April 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, file)
FILE - Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, left, holds on to his umbrella next to Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as they walk in St. Peter's Square after attending a cardinals' meeting, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Cardinal Peter Erdo celebrates the Christmas Day Mass in Esztergom Basilica in the City of Esztergom, 51 kms northwest of Budapest, Hungary, on Dec. 25, 2016. (Attila Kovacs/MTI via AP)
FILE - German Cardinal Reinhard Marx arrives for a morning session of a two-week synod on family issues at the Vatican, o, Oct. 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Cardinal Pietro Parolin attends at the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Catholic missionaries in China from an Italian religious order meeting, in Milan, Italy, on Oct. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
FILE - Cardinal Marc Ouellet arrives for a meeting at the Vatican on March 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - New Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, poses for a photo at the end of the consistory where Pope Francis elevated 21 new cardinals in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca, file)
FILE - Cardinal Robert Sarah appears for the presentation of Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke's book Divine Love Made Flesh, in Rome, on Oct. 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, left, and German Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller arrive for the morning session of the synod on the family, a two-week meeting of 200 cardinals and bishops from around the world, at the Vatican on Oct. 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Cardinal Luis Tagle appears in the Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome for the liturgy of the ashes presided over by Pope Francis on Ash Wednesday on Feb. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, FIle)
FILE - Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, head of the CEI (Italian Conference of Bishops), welcomes parishioners after celebrating Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow, on June 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
This combination of photos shows, top row from left, Cardinal Peter Erdo, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, middle row from left, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Cardinal Robert Prevost, Cardinal Robert Sarah, and bottom row from left, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, Cardinal Luis Tagle and Cardinal Matteo Zuppi. (AP Photo)
FILE - Newly elected Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, right, receives his biretta from Pope Francis as he is elevated in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca, file)
FILE - New Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, poses for a photo at the end of the consistory where Pope Francis elevated 21 new cardinals in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca, file)
FILE - Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn attends a celebration at the St. Bartholomew church at the Tiberine Island in Rome, Monday, March 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca, File)
FILE - Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, of Austria, attends a vespers celebration in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
FILE - Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn attends a press conference to present the post-synodal apostolic exhortation ' Amoris Laetitia ' (The Joy of Love), at the Vatican, Friday, April 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, left, talks with Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as he arrives for the presentation of his book Divine Love Made Flesh, in Rome, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, arrives for the presentation of Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke's book Divine Love Made Flesh, in Rome, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Cardinal Matteo Zuppi poses for photographers at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Cardinal Matteo Zuppi delivers his address opening the works of the 77th General Assembly of the Italian Bishops Conference at the Vatican, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
FILE - Pope Francis, left, speaks to Archbishop Matteo Maria Zuppi during his visit to Bologna, Italy, Oct. 1, 2017. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool photo via AP, file)
FILE - Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, head of the CEI (Italian Conference of Bishops) speaks during a press conference at The Vatican, Thursday, May 25, 2023, at the end of the 77th CEI's general assembly. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, File)
FILE - Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet attends a Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, on March 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet leaves after a meeting at the Vatican, Monday March 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Pope Francis, left, and Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet arrive at the opening of a 3-day Symposium on Vocations in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
FILE - Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet responds to media at a news conference about his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI as Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Wednesday, June 30, 2010 in Quebec City, Canada. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jacques Boissinot, File)
FILE - Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019. Parolin has been Francis’ secretary of state since 2014. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE - Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin speaks at the COP26 Summit, in Glasgow, Scotland, Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021. (Daniel Leal Olivas /Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin attends a ceremony where the Colosseum is lit up in red to draw attention to the persecution of Christians around the world, in Rome, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin smiles as he is welcomed by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier for a meeting at the Bellevue palace in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, June 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, file)
FILE - Munich and Freising Archbishop Reinhard Marx presents his new book 'The Capital' in Munich, southern Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
FILE - Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, gives a statement to the press in the courtyard of his residence in Munich, Friday, June 4, 2021. (Peter Kneffel/dpa via AP, File)
FILE - In this Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019 file photo Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the archbishop of Munich and Freising, leaves at the end of a media briefing during a four-day sex abuse summit called by Pope Francis in Rome. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
FILE - German Cardinal Reinhard Marx attends a press conference by Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi at the Vatican's press center, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, left, shows Pope Francis how to give the popular hand sign for "I love you" at the Mall of Asia arena in Manila, Philippines, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. (AP Photo/Wally Santana, File)
FILE - Pope Francis greets Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, archbishop of Manila, second from right, and group of migrants, during his weekly general audience, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 5, 2015 file photo, Pope Francis is greeted by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, right, upon his arrival at the opening session of a two-week bishops' meeting on family issues, at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - President of Caritas Internationalis Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle makes a point during a press conference announcing the launch of a campaign on the plight of migrants to counteract mounting anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S., Europe and beyond, at the Vatican press center, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Pope Francis, left, talks with Cardinal Peter Erdo of Hungary as arrives for the afternoon session of a two-week synod on family issues at the Vatican, Monday, Oct. 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
FILE - Cardinal Peter Erdo officiates the Easter Vigil ceremony at the St Stephen's Basilica of Budapest for Easter Vigil services on Saturday, April 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, File)
FILE - Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erdo is interviewed by The Associated Press, in Budapest, on Thursday, April 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, file)
FILE - Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, left, holds on to his umbrella next to Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as they walk in St. Peter's Square after attending a cardinals' meeting, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
