Pope Francis’ death has prompted electors to gather at the Vatican to choose the next head of the church. The election process will start once the 9-day mourning period is over. Here’s why no females are being considered to be the next Pope.
Pope Francis passed away at the age of 88. The Jesuit Pope was elected as the head of the church in 2013. The Vatican declared Francis’ demise on April 21, 2025. The Vatican is currently honoring the Pope by observing the Novendiale.
After the 9-day mourning period, 135 electors are scheduled to assemble in the Vatican to elect the next pope. Once the group is gathered, the voting process takes place over a period of 15 to 20 days. The group that elects the bishop of Rome is known as the papal conclave.
The voting process is highly confidential, and the elections are held behind closed doors in the Sistine Chapel. Every person in the conclave will vote 4 times every day until one candidate receives a majority of two-thirds of the votes.
No woman has been elected as the Pope to date. The Bible contains no doctrine as such that mentions that a woman cannot be the head of the Roman Catholic church. But a common argument sides with the fact that a precedent dictates that only a man can be the bishop of Rome.
These are considered to be the front runners to be elected the next Pope of the Roman Catholic Church: pic.twitter.com/6QKHWQB7XX
— Rik_W 🇬🇧🏴🇳🇱🇩🇪🇮🇪 (@Rik_w2010) April 21, 2025
Catholics around the world believe that Jesus’s choice of his disciples prevents a woman from being elected as the Pope. When Jesus chose twelve of his disciples, all of them were men who then went on to lead the church.
Michelle Dillon, who is a sociologist at the University of New Hampshire, gave her two cents on the elections. “Even if the current pope was the most feminist person you could meet and believes women should be priests,” she explained. The sociologist explained the reason behind that to be that they want to be “faithful” to Jesus’ intentions.”
There are only two requirements that a candidate has to fulfill to be eligible to be considered for the election of the Pope. The first one is that they have to be a baptised catholic, and the second they have to be a male.
Pietro Parolin (Italy – 31%) and Luis Antonio Tagle (Philippines – 22%) are currently the frontrunners to be the next Pope, according to Polymarket. pic.twitter.com/ClkUVb8qUv
— NewsWire (@NewsWire_US) April 22, 2025
It is not a requirement for the candidate to be a cardinal, but a cardinal has been elected to be the Pope for the last 500 years. A non-priest has even been elected as a Pope in the past. Pope Leo X, who wasn’t a priest, was elected as the head of the church in 1513.
French priest Jean-Marc Aveline, 66, and Peter Erdo from Hungary are in the running to be the next Pope, according to a Reuters report. Mario Grech, who is 68 years old and from Malta, is also a promising candidate. Spanish Cardinal Juan Jose Omella and Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin are also being considered.
Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle, Joseph Tobin, Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, and Matteo Maria Zuppi are some other names that could be considered.
