A complete of 135 cardinals from the world over, all beneath the age of 80, are eligible to participate within the secret vote.
The Vatican has introduced {that a} conclave to elect the brand new chief of the Roman Catholic Church following the death of Pope Francis will start on Could 7.
The date was determined throughout a closed-door assembly of cardinals on the Vatican on Monday, two days after the funeral of Francis, who died on April 21 aged 88.
A complete of 135 cardinals from the world over, all beneath the age of 80, are eligible to participate within the secret vote to resolve who would be the subsequent head of the 1.4-billion-member Church.
The Vatican on Monday closed the long-lasting Sistine Chapel, the place voting will happen, to start preparations.
The conclave’s members solid their votes by way of secret ballots, a course of overseen by 9 randomly chosen cardinals. A two-thirds majority is historically required to elect the brand new pope, and voting continues till this threshold is met.
After every spherical, the ballots are burned with chemical compounds, producing both black or white smoke, signalling to the world concerning the end result. Black smoke alerts that no determination has been made, whereas white smoke means a brand new pope has been elected. As soon as the pope is elected, a high cardinal proclaims his identify from Saint Peter’s Basilica.
