Cardinals of the Vatican have announced that the conclave to elect a new Pope to replace Pope Francis would begin on May 7. The date was decided during a closed-door meeting of cardinals at the Vatican on Monday.
The conclave would officially mark the last rites to replace Pope Francis, who died last week aged 88, as the head of the Catholic Church. In preparations for the Conclave, the Vatican on Monday closed the iconic Sistine Chapel, where voting will take place, to begin preparations.
A total of 135 cardinals from across the world, all below the age of 80, are eligible to take part in the secret vote called the conclave to decide who will be the next head of the 1.4-billion-member Church.
The Cardinals engage in a secret ballot voting process overseen by nine randomly selected cardinals until a two-thirds majority threshold is met to elect the new pope,. Voting can last several rounds as it continues until the two-third majority threshold is met.
After each round, the ballots are burned with chemicals, producing either black or white smoke, signalling to the world about the outcome. Black smoke signals that no decision has been made, while white smoke means a new pope has been elected. Once the pope is elected, a top cardinal announces his name from Saint Peter’s Basilica.
Once a candidate receives enough votes, they are asked if they accept and once they agree, they are asked to choose a new papal name which would then be announced to the whole world before the new pope gives his first blessings from the St. Basilica balcony.
As the day approaches, Cardinals from far and wide have begun arriving in the Vatican. Many cardinals are eager to continue Pope Francis’ pastoral focus on people who are marginalized and against war. But conservatives in the ranks may be more focused on forging unity and refocusing the church back to core doctrines emphasized by St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, rather than continue Francis’ social justice focus and outreach to women and gays. This might play a very important role on who becomes the new Pope.
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