Pope Leo XIV, right, stands in the Sistine Chapel among cardinals after being elected at the Vatican on May 8, 2025. He became the first American pope in history.

The Vatican conclave will continue on Thursday with as many as four more rounds of voting. A two-thirds majority of the 133 cardinals is required to select a new leader for the world’s 1.4 ...

Beginnings of the Sistine Chapel The Sistine Chapel, one of the most recognisable places in the world today, is the papal chapel in the Vatican Palace that was erected in 1473–81. A simple brick ...

The Room of Tears is just a few feet away from the Sistine Chapel, where the monumental decision of the papal election is made. After the pope-elect accepts his role, thus ending the conclave, the ...

Michelangelo also painted his monumental fresco "The Last Judgement" on the wall behind the altar between 1534 and 1541. Restoration work was carried out between 1980 and 1994, and the ceiling ...

The Sistine Chapel has witnessed every papal election since 1492 with only five exceptions, and it is preparing to once again host the conclave. The 133 cardinal electors, meeting behind closed doors, ...

Another witness to the historic election will be “The Last Judgment,” which will preside over the conclave from the altar wall. There will be placed the ballot box and the lectern with the ...

The Sistine ceiling, a flattened vault, was originally painted to resemble a starry sky. The chapel was officially dedicated on the Feast of the Assumption in 1483.

NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with art historian Kim Butler about the artwork that adorns the walls of the Sistine Chapel and its significance ahead of the conclave to elect the next pope.

He was coming in a few decades after he painted the ceiling to paint the altar wall for this new pope. But fundamentally, it was about the theology of salvation, how you are judged at the end of time.