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By Myke Agunwa
Nine days after the burial of Pope Francis, the conclave which will usher in the election of a new pope by cardinals will begin on May 7, 2025, the Vatican has announced.
The decision was reached by Cardinals who were in Rome on Monday at the fifth general congregation in the Vatican’s Synod Hall. The conclave begins after the nine days traditional mourning period for Pope Francis are concluded.
The closed-door meeting will start inside the Sistine Chapel, involving 135 cardinals from across the world under the age of 80 who are eligible to vote out of the total of 252 cardinals.
There is no timescale as to how long it will take to elect the next pope, but the previous two conclaves, held in 2005 and 2013, lasted just two days.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said cardinals will take part in a solemn mass at St Peter’s Basilica, after which those eligible to vote will gather in the Sistine Chapel for the secretive ballot.
Once they enter the Sistine Chapel, cardinals must have no communication with the outside world until a new Pope is elected.
Throughout the election process, the Cardinal electors must refrain from sending letters or engaging in conversations, including phone calls, except in cases of extreme urgency.
They are not allowed to send or receive messages of any kind, receive newspapers or magazines of any nature, or follow radio or television broadcasts.
There is only one round of voting on the first afternoon of the conclave, but the cardinals will vote up to four times every day afterwards.
A new pope requires a two-thirds plus one majority to emerge.
Each cardinal casts his vote on a simple card that says, in Latin: “I elect as Supreme Pontiff” to which they add the name of their chosen candidate.
If the conclave completes its third day without reaching a decision, the cardinals may pause for a day of prayer.
Outside the Sistine Chapel, the world will be watching for the smoke from the chimney that signals the update on the election.
If the smoke is black it signals that no candidate has emerged and there will be another round of voting.
The successful candidate will be announced with the traditional “Habemus papam” proclamation, accompanied by the appearance of white smoke from the chapel chimney which signals that a new pope has been chosen.
Late Pope Francis was laid to rest on Saturday, kick starting preparations to elect a successor.
After a funeral mass, huge crowds lined the streets of Rome to watch as the Pope’s coffin was carried in a procession to his final resting place, Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica.
Authorities said 140,000 people had lined the streets, clapping and waving as the hearse – a repurposed white popemobile – crossed the Tiber river and drove past some of Rome’s most recognisable sights: the Colosseum, the Forum and the Altare della Patria national monument on Piazza Venezia.
On Sunday images of Pope Francis’s tomb at the church were released showing a single white rose lying on the stone that bears the name he was known by during his pontificate, below a crucifix illuminated by a single spotlight.