The First Conclave in the Church’s History | What is the “conclave”? The word conclave, from the Latin cum clave, which means closed with a key, evokes in our minds images of an orphan church that expectantly awaits the name of who will be the next successor of St. Peter. It makes us think of the cardinal electors gathered behind closed doors in the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo's Universal Judgment reminds us that they will have to give an account to God at the end of their days. But the w