The Caller: Monica from Waco

Monica called in (shoutout to Catholic moms and dads fielding tough questions from their kids! ) with a super-specific query from her 12-year-old: "Is the papal conclave truly blind the whole way through?" Or does someone peek at the votes after each round?

Patrick's Explanation:

-Each Cardinal, seated at a tiny desk in the Sistine Chapel), writes a name on a ballot.

-Votes are collected and counted carefully: Another cardinal collects the ballots.

-There are multiple eyes on the ballots the whole time to avoid any funny business (no ballot sneaking or swapping allowed).

-Votes are read out loud: In front of everyone! If someone tries to misread or fudge a name, the cardinals can totally call it out.

Needle and Thread Moment! 

-Yes, seriously. After the counting, they literally stitch all the ballots together with thread, sealing them up to prevent tampering. 

The Black Smoke:

-If no one hits that two-thirds supermajority, the ballots get torched and black smoke rises from the Sistine Chapel chimney (cue every Catholic running to the news livestream).

-While the actual voting stays secret, during breaks the cardinals might chat about who’s pulling ahead. (“Hey, did you see how many votes Cardinal So-and-So got?)

Patrick’s Big Picture:

The conclave is as secret and protected as possible, but it’s not anonymous forever in the sense that progress is visible and talk happens.

It’s a beautiful balance between holy discernment and human process with lots of safeguards against shenanigans, but also human conversation happening naturally.