Roman Catholic cardinals from around the world will gather in Rome on May 7 and begin a conclave to elect the next pope, the Vatican announced Monday.
A group of more than 180 cardinals made the decision at a meeting in the Vatican's Synod Hall. The conclave will take place in the nearby Sistine Chapel, a popular tourist spot that was closed to the public Monday and will remain off-limits until the conclave is completed.
"We were a little bit sad (when) we heard the Sistine Chapel was closed," said Ahmad Mourad, visiting Rome from Texas. "But we understand the situation."
Pope Francis, 88, who presided over the church's estimated 1.4 billion followers for 12 years, died April 21. Attention now turns to the selection of his successor. The College of Cardinals, the church's most senior members, gather for the decision, but only those under age 80 are eligible to vote. Of the church's 252 cardinals, 135 will serve as electors, according to the Vatican.
On May 7, the cardinals will meet for morning Mass at St. Peter's Basilica, praying for the wisdom to make the right decision. They then will form a procession into the Sistine Chapel, where they will take an oath where they commit to secrecy and not to allow outside interests to sway their decisions.
The master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations orders everyone who is not part of the conclave to leave. The master and a member of the clergy designated to lead a meditation remain.
"This meditation focuses on the grave responsibility that rests upon the electors and the necessity of acting with pure intentions for the good of the Universal Church, keeping only God before their eyes," the Vatican says.
The master and the meditation leader then leave. If voting begins on the afternoon of the first day, there will be only one ballot. On subsequent days, two ballots are held in the morning and two in the afternoon.
Technically, the cardinals need not choose a fellow cardinal to lead the church. The only actual qualifications are being male and being baptized as a Catholic. It has been almost 650 years, however, since the last non-cardinal claimed the job. Italian Archbishop Bartolomeo Prignano was unanimously elected in 1378 and became Pope Urban Vl.
His death fueled the Western Schism, a period when a split in the church caused multiple popes to gain election at the same time.
The election of Pope Gregory X in 1271 took two years and nine months. The cardinals had gathered in the city of Viterbo, about 50 miles north of Rome, where Pope Clement IV died in 1268. French cardinals wanted a French pope, Italian cardinals wanted an Italian to lead the church. Local authorities finally locked the cardinals up in a palace to help expedite the process that led to the election of Gregory, a native of Italy with strong ties to France.
Gregory formalized rules for future votes, and the term "conclave" comes from his restructure of the process.
Throughout the election process, the cardinal electors must refrain from sending letters or engaging in conversations, including phone calls, except in emergencies. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops spells out in detail the protocols for the election. The cardinals will vote by secret ballot, proceeding one by one up to Michelangelo's fresco of the Last Judgment to say a prayer and drop the double-folded ballot into a large chalice.
Four rounds of balloting take place each day until a candidate receives two-thirds of the vote. The result of each ballot are counted aloud and recorded by three cardinals designated as recorders. If no one receives the necessary two-thirds of the vote, the ballots are burned in a stove near the chapel with a mixture of chemicals to produce black smoke.
If the electors fail to reach an agreement on a candidate after three days of inconclusive voting, a break of up to one day is allowed for prayer, free discussion among voters and a "brief spiritual exhortation," according to the Vatican.
When a cardinal receives the necessary two-thirds vote, the dean of the College of Cardinals asks him whether he is willing to serve. If he is, the new pope chooses a papal name and is dressed in papal vestments. The ballots of the final round are burned with chemicals producing white smoke to signal to the world the election of a new pope.
French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, will announce "Habemus Papam" − We have a pope − from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. The new pontiff then goes out onto the balcony and blesses the city of Rome and the entire world.