Vatican cardinals commence solemn conclave to choose next pope

With all the pomp drama and solemnity that the Catholic Church can muster 133 cardinals on Wednesday begin the secretive centuriesold ritual to elect a successor to Pope Francis opening the most geographically diverse conclave in the faiths 2000year historyThe cardinals from 70 countries will be sequestered from the outside world their cellphones surrendered and airwaves around the Vatican jammed to prevent them from all communications until they find a new leader for the 14 billionmember churchFrancis named 108 of the 133 princes of the church choosing many pastors in his image from farflung countries like Mongolia Sweden and Tonga that had never had a cardinal beforeHis decision to surpass the usual limit of 120 cardinal electors and include younger ones from the global south those often marginalized countries with lower economic clout has injected an unusual degree of uncertainty in a process that is always full of mystery and suspenseMany hadnt met one another until last week and lamented they needed more time to get to know one another raising questions about how long it might take for one man to secure the twothirds majority or 89 ballots necessary to become the 267th popeWait and see a little patience wait and see said Cardinal Mario Zenari the Vaticans ambassador to Syria as he arrived for the final day of prevote discussionsA final Mass then All outThe cardinals begin by participating in a final preconclave Mass in St Peters Basilica The dean of the College of Cardinals Giovanni Battista Re celebrates the Mass which is meant to pray for cardinals to find the wisdom counsel and understanding to elect a worthy new shepherdRe 91 had presided at Francis funeral delivering a heartfelt sermon recalling historys first Latin American pope and the reforming 12year papacy he oversawAt 430 pm 1430 GMT 1030 am EDT the cardinals walk solemnly into the frescoed Sistine Chapel chanting the meditative iquestLitany of the Saintsiquest and the Latin hymn Veni Creator imploring the saints and the Holy Spirit to help them pick a popeOnce there they pledge to maintain secrecy about what is about to transpire and to not allow any interference opposition or any other form of intervention from outsiders to influence their votingStanding before Michelangelos vision of heaven and hell in The Last Judgment each cardinal places his hand on the Gospel and swears to carry out that duty so help me God and these Holy Gospels which I touch with my handAfter that the retired preacher of the papal household Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa delivers a meditation The master of papal liturgical ceremonies Archbishop Diego Ravelli calls out Extra omnes Latin for all out Anyone not eligible to vote then leaves and the chapel doors close allowing the work to beginThe cardinals dont have to take a first vote on Wednesday but they usually do Assuming no winner is found the Vatican said black smoke could be expected out of the Sistine Chapel chimney at around 7 pmThe cardinals retire for the night and return Thursday morning They can hold up to two ballots in the morning and two in the afternoon until a winner is foundWhile cardinals this week said they expected a short conclave it will likely take at least a few rounds of voting For the past century it has taken between three and eight ballots to find a pope John Paul I the pope who reigned for 33 days in 1978 was elected on the third ballot His successor John Paul II needed eight Francis was elected on the fifth in 2013Challenges facing a new popeThere are any number of challenges facing a new pope and weighing on the cardinals above all whether to continue and consolidate Francis progressive legacy on promoting women LGBTQ acceptance the environment and migrants or roll it back to try to unify a church that became more polarized during his pontificate The clergy sex abuse scandal hung over the preconclave talksSince Francis chose 8037 of the voters continuity is likely but the form it might take is uncertainAs a result identifying frontrunners has been a challenge But some names keep appearing on lists of papabile or cardinals having the qualities to be pope Cardinal Pietro Parolin 70 is a leading Italian by nature of his office He was Francis secretary of state the Vatican No 2 so known to every cardinal Filippino Cardinal Luis Tagle 67 is a top candidate to be historys first Asian pope He had a similarly highprofile job heading the Vaticans evangelization office responsible for the Catholic Church in much of the developing world Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erdo 72 the archbishop of Budapest is a leading candidate representing the more conservative wing of the churchA choreography to the voteThe voting follows a strict choreography dictated by church lawEach cardinal writes his choice on a paper inscribed with the words Eligo in summen pontificem I elect as Supreme Pontiff They approach the altar one by one and say I call as my witness Christ the Lord who will be my judge that my vote is given to the one who before God I think should be electedThe folded ballot is placed on a round plate and tipped into an oval silver and gold urn Once cast the ballots are opened one by one by three different scrutineers cardinals selected at random who write down the names and read them aloud Cardinals can keep their own tally on a sheet of paper provided but must turn their notes in to be burned at the end of votingThe scrutineers whose work is checked by other cardinals called revisors then add up the results of each round of balloting and write the results down on a separate sheet of paper which is preserved in the papal archivesAs the scrutineer reads out each name he pierces each ballot with a needle through the word Eligo and binds them with thread and ties a knot The ballots are then put aside and burned in the chapel stove along with a chemical to produce either black smoke to signal no winner or white smoke to announce that a new pope has been electedThis story has 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