Ahead of the conclave beginning this week, all 133 Catholic cardinals eligible to vote for a new pope have arrived in Rome, the Vatican confirmed on Monday.
They will enter into seclusion in the Sistine Chapel at 4:30 pm (1430 GMT) on Wednesday, voting in secret until one of them secures the required two-thirds majority to become the next head of the Roman Catholic Church.
Summoned following the death of Pope Francis on April 21, the group — representing 70 countries across five continents.
The 133 “Princes of the Church” who will vote — all those aged under 80, minus two who are absent for health reasons — will gather on Wednesday afternoon under the frescoed splendour of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican.
Voting once that day and four times a day thereafter until a pope is chosen, they will stay at the nearby Santa Marta guesthouse but are forbidden from contacting the outside world until they have made their choice.
They will inform the waiting world of their progress by burning their ballots and sending up smoke — black if no candidate has reached the two-thirds majority of votes, or white if they have a winner.
On Monday morning, technicians installed red curtains on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, where the new pontiff will make his first appearance.
Of interest to many is whether the new pontiff will follow the popular Argentine pontiff’s progressive line or whether the Holy See will pivot towards a more conservative traditionalist leader.
Francis, an energetic reformer from Buenos Aires, ran the Church for 12 years and appointed 80 percent of the current cardinal electors.
But experts caution they may not choose someone in his model, with many warning there could be surprises.
Vatican affairs specialist, Marco Politi, told AFP that, given the unknowns, the conclave could be “the most spectacular in 50 years”.
Cardinals met on Monday morning for the latest in a series of preparatory meetings, general congregations, and will gather again in the afternoon.
All cardinals are invited to these, not just those eligible to vote in the conclave, taking the opportunity to discuss the issues that will face Francis’s successor.
Among the pilgrims and sightseers who gathered in the square on Monday, opinions varied widely about who could or should take over.
“Maybe more of Pope Francis than Pope Benedict,” said German visitor Aurelius Lie, 36.
But Canadian priest, Justin Pulikunnel, did not hide his frustration at the direction Francis tried to take the Church, saying he personally sought a return to a more traditional leadership.
“Well, I hope and I pray that the new pope will kind of be a source of unity in the Church and kind of calm the waters down after almost a dozen years of destabilisation and ambiguity,” he said on Sunday.
