Two days after the funeral of Pope Francis, the Vatican announced Monday April 28 that the cardinals voters will meet from May 7 in conclave to elect the new sovereign pontiff.
Under the Vatican rules, the 135 cardinals will take part this morning in a solemn mass in the Saint-Pierre basilica before the 135 voters, under the age of 80, meet in the afternoon in the Sistine Chapel for this closed-door ballot which can last several days. The Sistine Chapel, moreover, was closed to the public from this Monday, for the conclave, said the site of the museums which welcome millions of visitors each year.
The date of the start of the conclave was announced after a fifth “General congregation” – A new preparatory meeting for cardinals, voters and non -electors – which started in the morning on Monday.
During this conclave, cardinals voters will no longer have the right to communicate with the outside, whether by post or by phone. The voting operations will continue as long as a name has not brought together two thirds of the votes, at the rate of two votes in the morning, and two in the afternoon.
Black smoke or white smoke
Sitting side by side under the monumental fresco of “Last Judgment” Painted by Michelangelo, the cardinals receive rectangular paper bulletins bearing inscription “Eligo in Summum Pontificem” (“I elect as sovereign pontiff”) with an empty space below. They will deposit their bulletin in an urn which will then be stripped. If, by chance, “The number of bulletins does not correspond to the number of voters, they must be burned all and immediately proceed to a second vote”specifies the Constitution.
The bulletins of the two elections made and the notes taken by the cardinals are then destroyed, burned in a stove by the Camerlingue – Cardinal ensuring the interim between two popes. The fireplace, visible by the faithful from Saint-Pierre square, emits black smoke if no pope has been elected. However, it is white in the event of an election of a new pope, by adding chemicals.
Once elected, it remains for the new pope to answer two questions from Cardinal Doyen: do you accept your canonical election as a sovereign pontiff? What name do you want to be called? Responding ” Yes “ At the first, the elected official immediately becomes Pope and bishop of Rome.