Each third grade cardinal processed into the classroom and took an oath which stated that God will be their witness and that there will be no trickery or bragging. Every “cardinal” received a ballot and wrote the name of one of the other cardinals on it. Then, one by one, they were called up, they placed their ballot on the paten, which is a small plate that the cardinals use to place their ballots in a chalice. After all the ballots are cast, then the chalice is shaken up and the ballots are poured onto the altar and counted.
How the counting works is, there are three scrutineers. The first scrutineer reads the ballot, doesn’t say anything and writes down the name, the second scrutineer does the same, and the last scrutineer reads the ballot aloud and pierces the ballot through the word eligo to make the ballot valid. They do this with all of the ballots and at the end, if one cardinal has two-thirds of the votes, they announce the new pope.
After seven intense rounds of voting the third grade class was starting their eighth and final round. The two cardinals that were left had to pray and discern about this very hard.
On this special day in the third grade class, after the votes were counted, one of the scruteneers stood before the cardinal and asked if he accepted. The new pope said, “of course,” and stated his new name, then the cardinal said these words “Habemus Papum, Jace Cardinal Woods, Pope Stephen XII our new Pope. Then Jace dons his miter and is called Pope Stephen.
After being elected, the pope blessed the class and some chocolate that they ate in celebration. While enjoying their delicious chocolate, one of the students mentioned that it was his birthday. The pope immediately gave him a papal birthday blessing. It was a fun day in the third grade classroom!