Papal conclaves have featured calls of election fraud and bribery so gauche that riches were wheeled in on donkey carts.

Intelligence agencies have long gathered information to help their governments get a sense of who the next pope might be ...

Since the church began selecting popes in a secret conclave, the choice has rarely come from the rumored frontrunners.

From the Renaissance onwards, betting on papal conclaves was a big business, giving bookmakers strong incentives to gather intelligence from cooks, carpenters or others working at the site.

No matter whom they choose, his place in church history is already assured. Over the centuries, papal conclaves, like popes themselves, have been a mix of religion, politics and power. The choice ...

In case you were wondering if this concern was a new one, the second issue ever of America featured an editorial on papal conclaves in which the editors argued (wait for it) that Austria ...

A History of the Papal Elections, told the Register that strict secrecy associated with conclaves is a relatively recent development. “It was not until 1903 that you had this very strict secrecy ...

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground ... Luis Antonio Tagle are among the favourites to succeed Pope Francis ahead of the Papal Conclave, which begins on ...

Ever since Pope John XXIII was elected in 1958, the successors of St. Peter have established a pattern: pope as disruptor, ...

“His murder began what most historians would agree was the worst period in the history of the papacy,” Frederic J. Baumgartner wrote in his book, “Behind Locked Doors: A History of the Papal ...

The pomp and ceremony of a papal conclave — the flutter of cardinals gathering in their red robes, the crowds at the Vatican awaiting the white smoke that proceeds the proclamation from a ...