All 133 cardinals ‘rawdogging’ during conclave

A news anchor has said the cardinals electing the new pope are ‘rawdogging’.

The Vatican began its papal conclave yesterday following the death of Pope Francis last month.

The conclave- which comes from the Latin for ‘cum clave’, or ‘locked with key’ – sees 133 cardinals secluded inside the Sistine Chapel until a vote is reached.

A new pope has now been chosen, meaning the conclave has now ended, but during the process they have no phone or internet access and are under oaths of secrecy.

During live coverage of the papal conclave earlier today, a CBS anchor had a unique way of putting it that the cardinals can’t scroll on Instagram.

Reporter John Allen told the panel: ‘They don’t stand up, and most of them, no, most of them will tell you that while that’s going on, they’re sitting reading their abbreviary, that’s a book of prayers that clergy have, or praying a rosary.

‘The one thing we know they’re not doing is checking Instagram because their devices have been confiscated.’

Host Tony Dokoupil interjected: ‘I believe the kids call it rawdogging, if you’re gonna go through a long period of time with no electronic device.’

Rawdogging is slang for unprotected sex but, largely thanks to Gen Z, is often used to mean enduring a boring or difficult activity.

The CBS panel, including Vatican analyst Delia Gallagher and co-anchors Norah O’Donnell, Maurice DuBois, Seth Doane and Chris Livesa, could all be heard chuckling to themselves after Dokoupil’s comment.

And they weren’t alone. ‘Really sorry I lived long enough to hear someone say “rawdogging” on the national news,’ joked one X user.

Comedian Mile Drucker wrote: ‘Calling my very religious mum to tell her that CBS News said the cardinals are rawdogging.’

Another added: ‘Rawdogging in the house of god is wild, but as Catholics they cannot use contraception anyway.’

Know Your Meme, a database of internet jokes, asked if they’re ‘going to have to update our entry’ on rawdogging.

The cardinals, all men nearly all over 50, participate in four rounds of voting every day until a vote is reached during the conclave.

Every ballot is burned after two rounds, and the smoke rising out of the chimney shows whether a decision was made – black for no, white for yes.

Last night and earlier this morning, black smoke puffed from the chimney, before white smoke emerged on Thursday evening to signify a choice had been made.

The cardinals rawdogged over the space of two days to choose the new leader of the world’s 1.4billion Roman Catholics.

The process to pick Francis took two days.

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