As the cardinal electors voted on the future of the Catholic Church in the silence of the Sistine Chapel, a funny and curious moment occurred.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines shared in a recent press conference an event that occurred moments before the cardinals chose Cardinal Robert Prevost as Peter's 267th successor.
Cardinal Tagle said Cardinal Prevost was reflective and visibly moved as it became clearer that he was about to be chosen as the next pope.
Sitting next to him, Cardinal Tagle noticed the anxious expression on Cardinal Prevost’s face. Then, something unexpected happened: Cardinal Tagle reached into his pocket and offered Cardinal Prevost candy.
Cardinal Tagle said:
"I always have a bag of sweets. Cardinal Prevost was next to me. When he was sighing deeply, I said, 'Do you want a sweet?' He said, 'Okay, give me one.' And I said, 'That's it, this is my first act of charity for the new pope,'" the Filipino joked.
Cardinal Tagle explained that he brought the sweets because he imagined the conclave could last for hours, and this was not the first time he did this.
When Pope Francis was elected in 2013, Cardinal Tagle brought something to "cheat his hunger." At the time, a Colombian cardinal joked with him when he saw him open a package.
"In Italian, he asked me what I had brought to the Sistine Chapel. I said, ‘caramel candy,’ and he said, 'A little boy bringing candy to the Sistine Chapel. ' And I said, 'The sessions here are very long, so I always get hungry. ' So he asked, 'Do you have any more? Please give me some," Cardinal Tagle laughingly recalled.
Cardinal Tagle also said that because they sat by each other, then-Cardinal Prevost (now Pope Leo XIV) asked him several questions about the process. The 2025 conclave was Cardinal Prevost’s first conclave, and Cardinal Tagle's second.
“He has a humorous side, he has such a great sense of humor that he laughs out loud,” Cardinal Tagle said of Pope Leo XIV.