Get your bets in: These are the betting odds for who will be the next Pope
133 cardinals are in the Vatican City to select who will be the successor to Pope Francis.
Argentine native Pope Francis died on Easter Monday at the age of 88 at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta, and the process to organize a new conclave to officially elect the new Bishop of Rome is underway.
133 cardinals expected to take part in the secret conclave to elect a new pope have arrived in Rome, the Vatican said on Monday, with the race to succeed Pope Francis seen as wide open. The conclave will start behind the closed, wooden doors of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday afternoon, with all cardinals aged under 80 entitled to take part to choose a successor to Francis, who died last month.
The Conclave as we know today goes back to the Middle Ages and was established to prevent a prolonged Vacant See (Sede Vacante), and outside interference.https://t.co/B2q92GlLqQ
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) May 5, 2025
Voting continues in rounds until one name has received at least two-thirds support, with up to four rounds of votes taking place per day. The most recent conclave, the 2013 election of Pope Francis, took about 24 hours and five ballots before he received the necessary majority.
Since Pope Francis’ passing, two names have emerged as potential front-runners to succeed Francis with Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle highly tipped.
Latest odds on who will be the new Pope
Parolin, who currently serves as the Vatican City’s Secretary of State, is the bookmakers’ favorite with odds of 11/4, according to the betting website Oddschecker.
Tagle, who would be the first ever Asian head of the Catholic Church, is valued at 7/2, with Matteo Zuppi and Peter Turkson both priced at 7/1.
As is pointed out by Newsweek’s Adeola Adeosun, the present betting odds represent a notable turnaround from late last week, when William Hill had Tagle as the favorite at 9/4, ahead of Parolin at 5/2.
How to watch the conclave from the U.S.
The longest-ever Papal conclave
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