SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
By Nicole Winfield, Joshua McElwee and Crispian Balmer
All the 133 cardinals expected to take part in the secret conclave to elect a new pope have arrived in Rome, the Vatican says, with the race to succeed Pope Francis seen as wide open.
The conclave will start behind the closed wooden doors of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday afternoon, to choose a successor to Francis, who died last month.
Cardinal Francis Leo walks along St Peters Square at the Vatican on Monday.Credit: AP
Some cardinals are looking for a new pope who will continue with Francis’ push for a more transparent, welcoming church, while others are seeking retrenchment to more traditional roots that put a premium on doctrine.
Conclaves are often spread out over several days, with multiple votes held before a contender wins the necessary three-quarters majority to become pope.
What is a conclave?
A conclave is the centuries-old election of a pope that derives its name from the Italian con clave (with a key) to underscore that cardinals are sequestered until they find a winner.
Cardinals have no contact with the outside world after the master of liturgical ceremonies utters the words extra omnes, the Latin phrase for “all out”, to ask all those present except the cardinal electors to leave the Sistine Chapel to begin the voting process.
In between votes, the cardinals will be staying at the Domus Santa Marta hotel in Vatican City and possibly another nearby Vatican residence, since there are more cardinal electors than Santa Marta hotel rooms.
When does it start?
The conclave begins on May 7, with the cardinals expected to proceed into the Sistine Chapel about 4.45pm (12.45am AEST on May 8).
Cardinals leave a meeting in Rome on Monday. Credit: Getty Images
How does the conclave work?
The day begins with Mass celebrated in the morning by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.
In the afternoon, the cardinals process into the Sistine Chapel and take their seats. A priest delivers a meditation and the cardinals take an oath. After the extra omnes declaration, the conclave begins.
Unless there are any outstanding questions or problems, cardinals take a single vote that first afternoon, seeking a two-thirds majority. If they don’t find a winner on the first ballot, they retire for the evening and return to the Sistine Chapel the following morning.
Black smoke emerges from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel during the 2013 conclave that eventually elected Pope Francis.Credit: AP
They can take up to two votes each morning, and two each afternoon until they have a winner. If, after three days, there is still no winner, the cardinals can take a one-day break to pray and talk among themselves.
Cardinals cast their votes on papers printed with the Latin words Eligo in Summum Pontificem (“I choose as Supreme Pontiff”). The ballots are gathered and burnt at the end of the morning and afternoon sessions, with smoke pouring from a makeshift chimney above the Sistine Chapel.
Black smoke indicates inconclusive votes, while white smoke tells the outside world that a pope has been chosen. The great bell of St Peter’s Basilica will ring out as an additional sign that a new pope has been elected.
The smoke signals are expected about noon (8pm AEST) and 7pm (3am AEST) each voting day. However, smoke could emerge earlier if the new pontiff is elected in the first ballot of one of the sessions.
Journalists work at St Peter’s Square on Monday.Credit: AP
Who gets to be part of the conclave?
Only cardinals under age 80 are eligible to vote. Current regulations notionally limit the number of electors to 120, but popes often exceeded that ceiling and today there are 135 who are eligible, although two have said they will not attend.
The cardinals come from 71 countries. Pope Francis appointed 108 of them, while Benedict XVI appointed 22, and St John Paul II appointed five.
Those cardinals who are aged over 80 and cannot vote can still participate in pre-conclave meetings, known as general congregations, in which church problems are discussed. It was in these meetings in 2013 that then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio spoke about the need for the church to go to the “existential peripheries” to find those who suffer – an off-the-cuff speech that helped his election.
Are there major differences between this conclave and previous ones?
St John Paul II rewrote the regulations on papal elections in a 1996 document that remains largely in force today, though Pope Benedict XVI amended it twice before he resigned.
Francis didn’t introduce any changes into the conclave itself, though his influence will surely be felt given he named more than three-quarters of the cardinal-electors who are eligible to vote.
Benedict’s most notable change to the original 1996 document was to exclude the possibility that a pope could be elected by a simple majority if voting was stalemated. Benedict decreed that a two-thirds majority is always needed, no matter how long it takes. He did so to prevent cardinals from holding out for the 12 days foreseen by John Paul and then pushing through a candidate with a slim majority.
If the conclave lasts that long, the top two vote-getters go to a run-off, with a two-thirds majority required to win. Neither of the top two candidates casts a ballot in the run-off.
So, the voting process is a secret?
Benedict tightened the oath of secrecy in the conclave, making clear that anyone who reveals what went on inside faces automatic excommunication.
In John Paul’s rules, excommunication was always a possibility, but Benedict revised the oath that liturgical assistants and secretaries take to make it explicit, saying they must observe “absolute and perpetual secrecy” and explicitly refrain from using any audio or video recording devices.
Pope Francis greets Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, considered a favourite to be the next pope, in 2017.Credit: AP
They now declare: “I take this oath fully aware that an infraction thereof will incur the penalty of automatic excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See. So help me God and these Holy Gospels, which I touch with my hand.”
How will we know when a new pope is chosen?
After the ballots are pierced, they are burned in a cylindrical stove at the end of the voting session. Black smoke from the Sistine Chapel chimney means no decision; white smoke signals the cardinals have chosen a pope and that he has accepted, meaning the conclave is over.
Chemical cartridges are added to ensure there is no confusion over the colour. To produce black smoke, a cartridge containing potassium perchlorate, anthracene – the component of coal tar – and sulfur is burned with the ballots. For white smoke, a cartridge of potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin is burned with the ballots.
Bells also are rung to signal the election of a pope, for further clarity.
The new pope is introduced from the loggia overlooking St Peter’s Square with the words, habemus papam! (“We have a pope!”) and his chosen papal name. The new pope then emerges and gives his first blessing, Urbi et Orbi (“to the city and the world”).
AP, Reuters
