Pope 2026

The current Pope is of advancing age. Soon another Pope will need to be elected. Players are cardinals in the Vatican and must balance running their diocese with competing to earn the trust of other cardinals in a bid to become the next Pope.

Send your bishops to work in the Vatican or your Diocese, performing sacraments and religious duties - even contributing to the Sistine Chapel window - all while trying to win the votes of the other cardinals in the conclave.

Cardinals and bishops can be placed on a player's diocese board as well as the shared Vatican board, which is primarily used to gain resources. Priests can only be placed on a player's diocese board, which is primarily used to trade sets of resources for coins, vote tokens and virtues. Coins are needed to pay for workers. Vote tokens can be spent to gain the vote of a cardinal, but only if they also meet that cardinal's virtue requirements. The final phase of the game is the conclave, in which undecided cardinals allocate their votes. Action cards acquired during the main game may also be played to influence the voting. The player who earns the most votes wins.

—description from the publisher