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Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Filipino cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle are among the favourites to succeed Pope Francis ahead of the secretive ballot
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Cardinals from around the world have descended on Rome for the secretive conclave to decide the next pope.
Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle are among the favourites to succeed Pope Francis ahead of the Papal Conclave, which begins on Wednesday.
The ritual begins with a mass in St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday morning, and later in the afternoon, the 133 cardinal electors will walk to the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel while chanting the litany of the saints.
Once there, the cardinals will take a vow of secrecy, and stand before Michealangelo’s famous vision of heaven and hell to swear to carry out the solemn duty of selecting a new leader of the Catholic Church.
Then, the work of debating and voting on who among them could lead will begin.
The conclave comes after the funeral of Pope Francis, who made liberal changes to the Catholic Church during his 12-year papacy.
Pope Francis also increased the diversity of cardinals, who will now elect his successor. The question is whether they will choose someone to carry on Pope Francis’s legacy, or opt for a more traditional figure.
The 100-or-so support staff including cooks, drivers, clerics and cleaners, have all taken an oath of secrecy before the conclave begins.
The staff will support the 133 cardinals during their conclave, which could last days or even weeks as they work to reach a two-thirds consensus on who should be the next pope.
The punishment for breaking the vow is automatic excommunication from the Church.
Some Cardinals have watched the film ‘Conclave’, before taking part in the real thing later today.
“Some have watched it in the cinema,” a cleric told Politico.
The film, starring Ralph Fiennes, is based off a novel by Robert Haris, and depicts the election of a new pope as a gossipy affair filled with political manoeuvring and infighting.
The film is not a documentary, but it did recreate a real conclave as accurately as is possible for a ritual meeting that remains shrouded in secrecy.
Read more about what the film gets right about the election of a new pope here.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle seems to be the favourite among TikTok users to become the next pope.
Several videos of the Filipino cleric have gone viral on the social media platform, including one titled ‘Tagle-core’ stitching together clips o the Cardinal.
In another, he is speaking to a Polish congregation and admits he only knows a few words in Polish – and one of those words is ‘wodka’.
One commenter wrote: “If he becomes pope, more youth will become closer to [the] Church because of his youthful charisma”.
Another said: “I like this guy, he has sense of humor, would be a good Pope.”
Among the 133 cardinal electors there are key names that continue to be raised as possible successors to Pope Francis.
One of those is Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.
The 67-year-old former archbishop of Manila would be the first pope from Asia, if elected, and Asia is seen as a vital growth region for Catholicism.
Tagle is also seen as similar to Francis in many ways, and is on the progressive side of politics.
“He would represent a continuity of what Pope Francis has been doing,” said Reverend Emmanuel Alfonso, a former student of Tagle’s who has known him for decades.
According to the bookmakers, Tagle is currently the second favourite to be the next pope, at odds of 5-2, just behind Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state.
There are also 24 Asian cardinals in the conclave, and they could present a united front in support of Tagle.
But Tagle’s candidacy could be weakened by a management scandal from three years ago.
Read more about Tagle below:
Not all cardinals are eligible to take part in the conclave. Only those under the age of 80 when it begins can join in, reducing the number of eligible cardinals to 135.
Two of those cardinals – one from Spain, and another from Keyna – were unable to attend, so 133 cardinals will take part.
Here’s a bit of a breakdown of where they are from.
Unsurprisingly, Italy has the most cardinals, with 17 in total. European cardinals are also from countries including Spain, France, the Netherlands and Hungary.
These cardinals are from countries including Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, India and Japan.
The African cardinals come from countries including Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa.
Of these, 10 are from the United States, four are from Canada and two are from Mexico.
These cardinals represent countries including Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru.
There is one cardinal each from Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Tonga.
Cardinals and other members of the clergy have celebrated a mass at St Peter’s Basilica ahead of the conclave.
A senior cardinal has urged the cardinal electors who will soon begin the conclave to decide the next pope to put personal interests aside and choose someone who prizes unity in diversity.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, has presided over Mass in St Peter’s Basilica ahead of the conclave beginning later this afternoon.
Re, who at 91 is too old to take part, reminded cardinals that the conclave was the highest church responsibility, and they must set aside “every personal consideration”.
In his sermon in Italian, he said the new pope should foster unity within the church.
Re said the cardinals should elect someone “whom the Church and humanity need at this difficult, complex, and turbulent turning point in history”, Le Parisien reported.
“Let us pray that God grants the Church a Pope who will be able to awaken the consciences of all, as well as the moral and spiritual energies in today’s society, characterised by great technological progress, but which tends to forget God.”
The 133 cardinal electors have attended a final mass at St Peter’s Basilica before entering the conclave this afternoon.
The last mass before the cardinals begin their conclave is underway at St Peter’s Basilica this morning.
In attendance are the cardinal electors, Catholic bishops and members of the Catholic Church.
This is the key question, but there is no definitive answer.
The cardinals don’t 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 around 7pm.
If there is a new pope elected (unlikely within the first hours of debate) white smoke will appear after 5.30pm.
The conclave will continue for however long it takes the cardinals to reach a two-thirds majority.
The Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni told Vatican News that possible morning timing for smoke on Thursday would be after 10.30am if there was white smoke, and after midday if no pope had been elected.
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