Inside the conclave: The election of a pope

VATICAN CITY -- Three rounds of ballots had been cast with no winner, but it was becoming clear which way this conclave was headed.

When the cardinals broke for lunch, Sean O'Malley of Boston sat down next to his Argentine friend, Jorge Bergoglio. "He seemed very weighed down by what was happening," he said.

Hours later, the Buenos Aires archbishop would step before the frenzied masses packed into St. Peter's Square as Francis, the first pope from the Americas.

Cardinals take an oath of secrecy when they enter a conclave, promising never to reveal what goes on inside. But as is customary, the cardinals involved shared memories Thursday of their experience. It began Tuesday afternoon with a procession.

Reciting a hypnotic Gregorian chant, the 115 princes of the church filed into the frescoed masterpiece that is the Sistine Chapel and took their seats at four rows of tables.

Secret ballot

Then each man moved to the front and took an oath not to reveal what was about to occur. The massive double doors swung shut, the key was turned and the conclave was under way.

"The conclave is a very prayerful experience," O'Malley said. "It's like a retreat." Each man wrote a few words in Latin on a piece of paper: "I elect as supreme pontiff . . . " followed by a name.

One by one, they held the paper aloft, placed it on a saucer at the front of the room and tipped it into an urn.

And then the tallying began, with three cardinals -- known as scrutineers -- reading out the name on each slip. When they finished counting, it was clear the field remained wide open, said Cardinal Sean Brady, leader of the church in Ireland. "There were a number of candidates," he said.

On Wednesday morning, the cardinals filed in again and repeated the ritual of voting.

There were two votes before lunch, and the field narrowed.

At lunch, O'Malley sat down beside Bergoglio.

"He is very approachable, very friendly," he said. "He has a good sense of humor, he is very quick and a joy to be with."

But Bergoglio was uncharacteristically somber this time.

In the first afternoon ballot, the cardinals were getting close to a decision. On the second ballot, the scrutineers read out the names.

And it began to dawn on the men that their work was done.

"It was very moving as the names were sounding out," Brady said. "Bergoglio, Bergoglio, and suddenly the magic number of 77 was reached."

"I don't think there was a dry eye in the house," said Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.

Bergoglio accepts

A cardinal asked Bergoglio whether he accepted the papacy. "I am a sinner, but as this office has been given to me, I accept," he said, according to three French cardinals.

Bergoglio announced the name he would assume and went to change into the papal robes in the Room of the Tears.

When Francis returned to the chapel, "his first action was to go to a cardinal in a wheelchair and go to the back of the chapel to greet him," Brady said. Aides brought in a platform with a white chair for Francis and the cardinals, one by one, paid their respects.

The pope declined the platform, Dolan said. "He met with us on our own level."

It was time to face the public. More than 100,000 people had jammed into the square.

Vatican workers lined up to shake his hand, but Francis was worried about a delay, Dolan said. There were too many people outside waiting in the rain, and he didn't want to keep them.

After Francis addressed the crowd, a car came to take the new pope to dinner, and buses for the rest of the cardinals.

The car returned empty. "As the last bus pulls up, guess who walked out," Dolan said.