Cardinals set for conclave to elect new Pope
Conclave to select a new pope begins today, Wednesday
The Catholic Church will soon begin the highly choreographed process of choosing its new leader following the death last month of Pope Francis. It’s a secretive gathering known as “the conclave.”
. First, a special mass: Today’s events began with the “Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice” mass, which means “for the election of the Roman Pontiff.” After a break, the cardinals will head to the Sistine Chapel, which will be under lockdown for the conclave. Even cell signal around the chapel will be blocked.
• When will there be a new pope? This afternoon, the 133 voting cardinals will cast their ballots for the next pontiff. If a cardinal receives more than two-thirds of the vote, we will have a new pope. If not one does, voting will resume Thursday, when as many as four rounds of voting can occur. Take a look at how the vote will go.
There will be 15 nations represented in the conclave for the first time
Cardinals attend a mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff, prior to the start of the conclave, on Wednesday.
This will be one of the most diverse conclaves in history, with cardinal electors hailing from 71 different nations across six continents.
Fifteen nations are being represented for the first time by native cardinal electors.
During his papacy, the late Pope Francis created cardinals in many countries that had never had one before, including Central African Republic, Haiti, Malaysia, Myanmar, Paraguay and Singapore.
Asked about the prospect of the first US-born pope, CNN contributor Father Edward Beck said: “While some of the American candidates may be appealing to us, I think that there’s such a diversity here, and that people have been inspired by Pope Francis, you know, going to the southern hemisphere, Asia or even Africa.”
Cardinal electors will likely be considering “that we need to continue to diversify and make sure that the southern hemisphere is as attended to as the rest of the world,” he told CNN on Wednesday, ahead of the first vote.
From CNN’s Florence Davey-Attlee, Ben Wedeman and Alessandro Gentile in Rome
The next pope should be American, an advocate of priest abuse reform said in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday. Not for political reasons, she added, but because of the steps the US church has taken to improve safety.
“They’re the only bishops in the world that have gotten used to two key safety steps,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of Bishop Accountability. “Zero tolerance for abusers and disclosing the names of abusers. Everywhere else in the world that is practically unthinkable.”
Doyle pointed to Cardinal Seán O’Malley, head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, as a figure who understands the urgency.
But priest abuse survivor Ann Hagan Webb said the church has yet to follow through on its promises.
“They can say wonderful things about what they’re going to do, they make statements, they even shed tears and then when the cameras stop, they don’t do their investigations,” she said. “They don’t fulfil their promises of their commissions to help survivors and protect children.”
Last year, a report from Pope Francis’ commission for child protection found that parts of the Roman Catholic Church were still failing to ensure clerical sexual abuse was reported adequately, raising concerns about a “lack of transparency” in the Vatican’s handling of cases.