One of the coolest things is the conclave, which is the papl election proceeding. All the electors are sealed into a room and vote until a 2/3 +1 majority is reached. They communicate the results of every vote to the outside world through smoke signals, black smoke meaning a vote was inconclusive and white smoke annoucing the election of the new pope. http://www.answers.com/topic/papal-election is a good site giving some general knowledge about the process. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/pope/selection/ is also good. Interestingly enough the new pope may continue the rarity of a non-Italian pope and may actually be from outside of Europe. Cardinals from Africa and Latin America, the 2 biggest concentrations of Catholics in the world are among the favorites. However, as the famous saying goes "he who enters the conclave as pope, leaves as cardinal", meaning that politics often proves to knock off the favorites.