What happens when a pope dies?

Vatican protocol on a pontiff's death is steeped in tradition and ritual

Former personal secretary of Pope Benedict XVI Archbishop Georg Gänswein poses a veil on the Body Of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as it is laid to rest in his coffin
The ceremonial veil is placed over the face of Benedict XVI as he lies in state, following his death in December 2022
(Image credit: Vatican Media / Vatican Pool / Getty Images)

The death of a pope, the spiritual leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics, propels the Holy Roman Church into "its most dramatic moment of flux", said The New York Times.

For that very reason, the period between a pontiff's death and the election of a successor is marked by a series of "carefully choreographed" rituals and moments of "pageantry", designed to communicate order and continuity.

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  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.