Cardinal found with phone during secret conclave to elect Pope Leo, book says
#Pope Leo #Conclave #Vatican #Cardinal #Security breach #Cell phone #Papal election #Sistine Chapel
📌 Key Takeaways
- Cardinal found with phone during Pope Leo conclave
- Major security breach in Sistine Chapel with jamming equipment
- Cardinal Robert Prevost elected Pope Leo with 108 votes
- Conclave was most geographically diverse in history with cardinals from 70 countries
📖 Full Retelling
A cardinal participating in the secret conclave to elect Pope Leo was found carrying a cellphone in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel during the proceedings in May 2025, representing a major security breach in one of the world's most secretive elections, according to a new book released on March 1, 2026. The incident occurred as the 133 cardinals were preparing to take their first vote inside the Sistine Chapel, which had been specially equipped with jamming equipment to prevent outside communications. Security officials detected an active mobile connection, causing the cardinals to stare at each other in disbelief. Eventually, one of the older clerics realized he had a phone in his pocket and handed it over, leaving him 'disoriented and distressed,' as described in 'The Election of Pope Leo XIV,' written by Vatican correspondents Gerard O'Connell and Elisabetta Pique. The authors described the scene as 'unimaginable even for a film and never before seen in the history of modern conclaves,' noting that it was even more startling than the fictional intrigues portrayed in the 2024 film 'Conclave.' The cardinals met in a two-day conclave from May 7-8 to elect a successor to Pope Francis, who had died in April after 12 years leading the 1.4-billion-member Church, with Cardinal Robert Prevost from the United States ultimately winning with 108 votes on the fourth ballot to become Pope Leo, the first pontiff from the United States.
🏷️ Themes
Vatican secrecy, Papal election, Security breach
📚 Related People & Topics
Security
Degree of resistance to, or protection from, harm
Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercion). Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be persons and social groups, objects and institutions, ecosystems, or any other entity or phenomenon vulnerable to unwanted change. Security mostl...
Pope Leo
Topics referred to by the same term
Pope Leo is the name of fourteen heads of the Catholic Church:
Conclave
Election of the pope
A conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to appoint the pope of the Catholic Church. Catholics consider the pope to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and the earthly head of the Catholic Church. Concerns around political interference led to reforms after the interregnum...
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Original Source
try{ var _=i o; . if(!_||_&&typeof _==="object"&&_.expiry U.S., Israel strike Iran; Trump says Khamenei killed U.S., Israel strike Iran — what is known so far Strategists see only temporary market impact from Iran strikes Bitcoin prices fall below $64,000 after U.S./Israel attack on Iran (South Africa Philippines Nigeria) Cardinal found with phone during secret conclave to elect Pope Leo, book says By Reuters World Published 03/01/2026, 12:06 AM Updated 03/01/2026, 12:12 AM Cardinal found with phone during secret conclave to elect Pope Leo, book says 0 By Joshua McElwee VATICAN CITY, March 1 - The secret conclave that elected Pope Leo head of the Catholic Church last May was interrupted when one of the 133 cardinals involved was found carrying a cellphone, a massive security breach, a book released on Sunday revealed. As the clerics were preparing to take their first vote inside the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, which was fitted with jamming equipment to prevent outside communications, security officials picked up the signal of an active mobile connection. The cardinals stared at each other incredulously, then one of the older clerics discovered he had a phone in his pocket and handed it over, according to "The Election of Pope Leo XIV", a new book by two long-time Vatican correspondents. The book does not name the cardinal or suggest he had any motive for keeping his phone, saying the moment left him "disoriented and distressed". SECURITY BREACH WAS ’BETTER THAN FICTION’ The scene was "unimaginable even for a film and never before seen in the history of modern conclaves," wrote the authors, Gerard O’Connell and Elisabetta Pique. One such film, the 2024 hit "Conclave", imagined a tangled web of intrigues during the fictional selection of a pontiff. Last year’s unprecedented discovery of a phone was in its own way more startling than anything portrayed in that movie, O’Connell told Reuters. "Reality better than fiction," he said. Clerics taking part in a conclave take a ...
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