Le Mars, IA students take part in mock papal conclave - KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

Students at a Siouxland school have done their homework on the cardinals, and the papal conclave.

After prayer, Tuesday, students in Cecilia Henrich's class, at Gehlen Catholic High School, in Le Mars, watched a video of the process of electing a new pope.

She explained the sacred voting procedure and gave the class 16 different cardinals to choose from.

Students then wrote their secret ballots on a slip of paper, and, like the cardinals in conclave, had them counted, and placed their ballot into an urn.

The class then threaded the ballots, and tallied their votes. "I discovered that it takes a lot more time than I thought. I didn't realized how they all processed up front and then said a prayer each time," said Michaela Bretey. "This probably takes a lot of praying to God...'cause you wanna hear his voice not your own," added Abigail Chagolla.

Henrich said is a learning experience for everyone. "What I wanted my students to learn by participating in their own conclave was  kind of the procedure and the ritualistic nature that is associated with the conclave," explained Cecilia Henrich.

The students didn't come to their two-thirds decision. Henrich said they'll try again Wednesday.