SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
By Philip Pullella and Joshua McElwee
Vatican City: Roman Catholic cardinals will meet from May 7 in a secret conclave to elect a new leader following the death of Pope Francis, the Vatican announced on Monday.
The date was decided during a closed-door meeting of cardinals at the Vatican, the first since the Pope’s funeral on Saturday.
Cardinals attend the funeral of Pope Francis in St Peter’s Square.Credit: Getty Images
Some 135 cardinals, all under the age of 80 and from across the world, are eligible to take part in the conclave and decide who should lead the church’s 1.4 billion members.
The 16th-century Sistine Chapel, where conclaves are held, was closed to tourists on Monday to allow for preparations for the vote.
The past two conclaves, in 2005 and 2013, lasted just two days, but Swedish Cardinal Anders Arborelius said he expected this conclave to take longer as many of the cardinals appointed by Pope Francis have never met before.
Francis made a priority of appointing cardinals from places that had never had them, such as Myanmar, Haiti and Rwanda.
“We don’t know each other,” Arborelius, one of about 135 cardinals under the age of 80 who will enter the conclave, said.
The earliest the conclave could have begun was May 6. Starting it a day later means cardinals will have slightly more time for their general discussions ahead of the momentous ballot.
Francis, pope since 2013, died aged 88 on April 21. His funeral on Saturday and a procession through Rome to his burial place at the Basilica of St Mary Major attracted hundreds of thousands of mourners.
German Cardinal Walter Kasper told La Repubblica newspaper that the outpouring of emotion for Francis indicated that Catholics wanted the next pope to continue to reform the church.
Francis, the first pope from Latin America, largely tried to open up the often staid church to new conversations. He allowed debate on issues such as ordaining women as clergy and outreach to LGBTQ Catholics.
“The people of God voted with their feet,” said Kasper, who is 92 and will not take part in the conclave. “I am convinced that we must go ahead in the footsteps of Francis.”
However, a bloc of conservative cardinals is expected to push back and seek a pope who reasserts traditions and restricts Francis’ vision of a more inclusive church.
Reuters, AP
