Some 133 Catholic cardinals will gather below Michelangelo’s famed frescoes in the 15th-century chapel, situated inside the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican, to elect a successor to Pope Francis following his death on April 21.
Held behind locked doors, the conclave will signal to the world the outcome by burning ballots in a special stove, with the chimney emitting black smoke if no one has been elected, or white smoke if there is a new pope.
Cardinals from around the world have been called back to Rome following the death of Francis, an energetic reformer from Argentina who led the Catholic Church for 12 years.
Only those under the age of 80 are eligible to vote in the conclave, but ahead of the election, cardinals of all ages have been meeting daily to discuss the challenges facing the next head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, Italy’s Pietro Parolin — who served as secretary of state under Francis — and Ghana’s Peter Turkson are among the favourites.
But an old Roman is saying that he who enters the conclave a pope, leaves a cardinal — a warning that the favourite rarely emerges as the winner.
Credit: punchng.com
