Jamaine Punzalan

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17465936482951746593647673.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"></span></span></span></div><p>Cardinals attend a mass at St Peter&#x27;s basilica in The Vatican, on April 29, 2025. Dimitar Dilkoff, AFP</p><div><br/></div><p>Cardinals from across the world will be shut into the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday for a secretive conclave to elect the next head of the world&#x27;s 1.4 billion Catholics.</p><p>Some 133 cardinal electors -- aged under 80 -- have gathered at the Vatican from five continents to pick a successor to Pope Francis, who died last month after a 12-year-long papacy.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/5/7/pope-francis-fisherman-s-ring-and-lead-seal-made-void-ahead-of-conclave-1207">Pope Francis&#x27; Fisherman&#x27;s Ring and lead seal made void ahead of conclave</a></div><p>With experts singling out liberal and conservative frontrunners from Europe, the United States, Asia and Africa, the race to lead the 2,000-year-old institution appears wide open.</p><p>In a time of geopolitical uncertainty, the new pope faces diplomatic balancing acts, as well as Church infighting, the continued fall-out from the clerical child abuse scandal, and increasingly empty pews in the West.</p><p>The &quot;Princes of the Church&quot; will hold a pre-conclave mass in St Peter&#x27;s Basilica at 10:00 am (0800 GMT), presided over by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re.</p><p>It will be the last rite to be celebrated publicly before the Church&#x27;s 267th pope is presented to the world from a balcony of St Peter&#x27;s Basilica, several hours or perhaps days later.</p><p>&quot;If we can witness the white smoke that&#x27;d be something... that&#x27;s definitely once in a lifetime,&quot; US tourist Luke Vanderburgh told AFP on Tuesday.</p><p>Both Francis and his predecessor Benedict XVI were elected within two days, but the longest papal election in Church history lasted 1,006 days, from 1268 to 1271.</p><p>With clerics from around 70 countries, this conclave is the largest ever and the next pontiff will have to secure at least 89 votes -- a two-thirds majority.</p><p>The cardinals are staying at the Vatican&#x27;s Santa Marta guesthouse -- where Francis used to live -- and Santa Marta Vecchia, a building next door usually housing Vatican officials.</p><p>At 3:45 pm they will set off from Santa Marta to gather at the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace, where a prayer will be held from 4:30 pm.</p><p>They then proceed into the 15th-century Sistine Chapel for the conclave, which is &quot;one of the most secret and mysterious events in the world&quot;, the Vatican said on Tuesday.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/5/5/list-potential-successors-to-pope-francis-1417">LIST: Potential successors to Pope Francis</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>SWEAR AN OATH</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Under a ceiling of frescoes painted by Michelangelo, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin -- the senior elector -- will call on God to give the cardinals &quot;the spirit of intelligence, truth and peace&quot; needed.</p><p>Parolin, a frontrunner who was Francis&#x27;s number two as secretary of state, will then lead the cardinals in chanting the Latin invocation of the Holy Spirit: &quot;Veni, Creator Spiritus&quot;.</p><p>The cardinals have spent days discussing the most pressing challenges facing the Catholic Church and the character traits its new leader needs.</p><p>Burning issues include falling priest numbers, the role of women, the Vatican&#x27;s troubled balance sheets and how to adapt the Church to the modern world.</p><p>Some 80 percent of the cardinals were appointed by Francis -- an impulsive, charismatic defender of the weak.</p><p>But while interviews in the run-up suggested that some cardinals favor a leader able to protect and develop his legacy, others want a more conservative defender of doctrine.</p><p>More than a dozen names are circulating, from Italian Pierbattista Pizzaballa to Hungary&#x27;s Peter Erdo and Sri Lanka&#x27;s Malcolm Ranjith.</p><p>We may never know how close a race it is. Having surrendered mobile phones, the red-robed cardinals will swear an oath to keep the conclave&#x27;s secrets.</p><p>They also each pledge to &quot;faithfully&quot; serve as pope should they be chosen, before the master of liturgical ceremonies says &quot;Extra omnes&quot; (&quot;Everyone out&quot;).</p><p>Once the doors close, the cardinals fill out ballots marked &quot;Eligo in Summum Pontificem&quot; (&quot;I elect as Supreme Pontiff&quot;).</p><p>They then carry them, folded, and place them on a silver plate which is used to tip them into an urn, set on a table in front of Michelangelo&#x27;s Last Judgment.</p><p>The cardinals traditionally cast just one ballot on the first evening, burning the votes along with a chemical which will produce smoke -- black for no decision, white for a new pope.</p><p>Outside, hundreds of the faithful are expected to gather on St Peter&#x27;s Square, all eyes trained on the Sistine Chapel chimney, with a result expected by early evening.</p><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div>RELATED VIDEOS: <iframe width="1250" height="703" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ys7XUYR1XDw" title="Profile of Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle ahead of Conclave | ABS-CBN News" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><iframe width="1250" height="703" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cWKiFRGZDFY" title="Cardinal Tagle picked to assist preparations for conclave | ANC" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>  </div>

<p>Cardinals from across the world will be shut into the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday for a secretive conclave to elect the next head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.</p>

Cardinals from across the world will be shut into the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday for a secretive conclave to elect the next head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.

History beckons as cardinals gather to elect new pope

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History beckons as cardinals gather to elect new pope

Agence France-Presse

Published May 07, 2025 12:56 PM PHT

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