The inside story of Pope Leo XIV’s election

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen Dulle is joined by guest host Ashley McKinless for an interview with Gerard O’Connell and his wife and journalist Elisabetta Piqué about their new book, “The Election of Pope Leo XIV: The Last Surprise of Pope Francis.” They discuss pre-conclave maneuvering, including organized resistance to Pope Francis's reforms, as well as their decision to report conclave details despite Cardinals taking oaths of secrecy.

- 0:00 Breaking the secrecy of a conclave

- 8:10 A Vatican journalist and a war correspondent

- 12:04 Calculating the conclave vote tallies

- 15:09 Pressure campaigns and conclave maneuvering

- 22:17 How the cardinals choose a pope

- 30:10 What the cardinals think of Pope Leo so far

- 35:50 A touching personal story

Links:

The Election of Pope Leo XIV: The Last Surprise of Pope Francis (orbisbooks.com/products/the-election-of-pope-l…) by Gerard O'Connell and Elisabetta Pique

Excerpt: Behind the scenes of Pope Leo XIV’s election (americamagazine.org/features/2026/02/12/behind…)

Backer of Cardinal Parolin attacks Pope Francis’ push for lay involvement in church governance (americamagazine.org/faith/2025/04/30/attack-po…)

Los puntos débiles de Parolin, el favorito a ser el próximo papa, y el secreto a voces de su relación con Francisco (lanacion.com.ar/el-mundo/los-puntos-debiles-de…)

Follow Gerry on X: @gerryorome (x.com/gerryorome)

Follow Colleen on Instagram: @colleendulle (instagram.com/colleendulle)

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