What does it take to become a pope?
The current pope has to die or step down.
Technically, the only requirements of becoming pope are that you be male and a practicing Catholic. This leaves a pretty wide field, but popes for the last 600 years have been (cardinals) who are elected in a papal conclave by other cardinals.
A papal conclave is a meeting of the College of Cardinals convened to {elect} a new Bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope.
The cardinals vote by secret ballot, processing one by one up to Michelangelo's fresco of the Last Judgment, saying a prayer and dropping the twice-folded ballot in a large chalice.
Four rounds of balloting are taken every day until a candidate receives two-thirds of the vote.
The ballots of the final round are burned with chemicals producing white smoke to signal to the world the election of a new pope.
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