A papal conclave is a meeting of the College of Cardinals convened, during a period of vacancy in the papal office, to elect a Bishop of Rome who then becomes the Pope. The Pope is considered by Roman Catholics to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and earthly head of the Roman Catholic Church. The conclave, the means and process for choosing the pope for little more than half of the time the church has been in existence, is now the oldest ongoing method for choosing the leader of an institution.

A history of political interference in these elections and consequently long vacancies between popes, and most immediately the interregnum of 1268–1271, prompted the Second Council of Lyons to decree in 1274 that the electors should be locked in seclusion cum clave (Latin for "with a key"), and not permitted to leave until a new Bishop of Rome had been elected. Conclaves are now held in the Sistine Chapel in the Palace of the Vatican.

Since the Apostolic Age, the Bishop of Rome (like other bishops) was chosen by the consensus of the clergy and people of Rome. The body of electors was more precisely defined when, in 1059, the College of Cardinals was designated the sole body of electors. Since then other details of the process have developed. In 1970, Pope Paul VI limited the electors to cardinals under 80 years of age. The Pope may change the procedures for electing his successor; the current^[update] procedures were established by Pope John Paul II in his constitution Universi Dominici Gregis and amended by a motu proprio of Pope Benedict XVI dated 11 June 2007. A two-thirds vote of the electorate is required to elect the new pope.

Wilfrid Fox Napier, OFM (born 1941) is a South African cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of Durban, South Africa.

Napier, a Coloured South African, was born on March 8, 1941 in Swartberg, South Africa and ordained a priest in 1970. He first became a bishop in 1980 when he was appointed bishop of Kokstad. In 1992, he succeeded Denis Hurley as archbishop of Durban, a position he still holds. He chose as his episcopal motto the franciscan phrase pax et bonum which translated means "Peace and goodwill".

Cardinal Napier is a Member of the Episcopal Board of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL). Napier was proclaimed a Cardinal-Priest of the Church in 2001, given the titular church of San Francesco d'Assisi ad Acilia; and was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. On 21 March 2012, Cardinal Napier was appointed a Member of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers by Pope Benedict XVI.

Donald William Wuerl (born November 12, 1940) is an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He is the sixth and current Archbishop of Washington, serving since 2006. He previously served as Auxiliary Bishop of Seattle (1986-87) and Bishop of Pittsburgh (1988-2006). He was created a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.

Donald Wuerl was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the second of four children of Francis and Mary Anna (née Schiffauer) Wuerl. He has two brothers, Wayne and Dennis, and a sister, Carol. His father worked nights weighing freight cars for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and served in the Navy during World War II. His mother died in 1944, and his father married Kathryn Cavanaugh in 1946.

Wuerl received his early education at the parochial school of St. Mary of the Mount Church in the Mount Washington neighborhood of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1958. He then attended the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he was a Basselin Scholar at Theological College. He there earned a Bachelor's degree (1962) and Master's degree (1963) in philosophy.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ (born December 17, 1936) is an Argentine cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the current Archbishop of Buenos Aires, serving since 1998. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 2001.

Jorge Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, as one of the five children of an Italian railway worker and his wife. After studying at the seminary in Villa Devoto, he entered the Society of Jesus on March 11, 1958. Bergoglio obtained a licentiate in philosophy from the Colegio Máximo San José in San Miguel, and then taught literature and psychology at the Colegio de la Inmaculada in Santa Fe, and the Colegio del Salvador in Buenos Aires. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 13, 1969 by Archbishop Ramón José Castellano. He was attending the Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel, a seminary in San Miguel. Eventually, Bergoglio attained the position of novice master there and became professor of theology.

Impressed with his leadership skills, the Society of Jesus promoted Bergoglio and he served as provincial for Argentina from 1973 to 1979. He was later transferred in 1980 to become the rector of his seminary alma mater. He served in that capacity until 1986. He flew to Germany to complete his doctoral dissertation and returned to his homeland to serve as confessor and spiritual director in Córdoba.