VATICAN CITY – The Vatican is finalizing extraordinary security preparations as 133 cardinals prepare to enter the highly secretive conclave on Wednesday, May 7, to elect the next pope.
The Sistine Chapel, renowned for Michelangelo’s masterpieces, is being transformed into what some describe as the world’s most beautiful bunker. Vatican technicians have installed a raised floor, hiding beneath it what are believed to be sophisticated anti-surveillance measures, though officials have provided conflicting details—likely intentionally.
Among the rumored precautions are signal-jamming devices possibly hidden beneath the floor or near the chapel’s upper windows, which soar nearly 70 feet high. Officials have also installed special tiles to block mobile phone signals and film on the windows to prevent drone cameras from spying on the proceedings. Cellphones are strictly prohibited.
In 2013, during the last conclave, a Faraday cage was reportedly used to block electromagnetic signals. Similar high-tech countermeasures are believed to be in place again.
To further ensure the sanctity and secrecy of the process, Vatican cellphone towers will be shut down from 3 p.m. Wednesday until after the new pope is announced. Whether signals from towers just outside Vatican walls in Rome will be affected remains unclear.
The cardinals, all under the age of 80, will cast their votes up to four times a day. A chimney recently installed atop the chapel will emit black smoke if no pope is elected, or white smoke when the 267th pontiff is chosen.
During the conclave, cardinals will stay at the Santa Marta residence inside Vatican City, which was cleared of all other guests last week. Security teams have swept the area, and its main door has been closed, with cardinals instructed to use a side entrance. Wi-Fi access within the building has also reportedly been reduced.
A security “envelope” will follow the cardinals wherever they go. Vatican gendarmes and plainclothes Swiss Guards will accompany them during the short journey between the chapel and the residence—by bus or on foot through the Vatican gardens.
Support staff, including cooks, cleaners, and clergy, have sworn an oath of lifelong secrecy about anything they witness or hear. The penalty for breaking this vow: automatic excommunication from the Catholic Church.
As the world watches and waits for the plume of white smoke, what happens inside the Sistine Chapel will remain a matter of sacred confidentiality.
