Cardinals prepare for entry into conclave

CARDINALS had a few last hours to confer with aides or pray with the faithful before required check-in at a top-security hotel in Vatican City yesterday, a day before they were to be sequestered in secret sessions in the Sistine Chapel to elect the next Pope.

Many Vatican observers expect the conclave to last two or three days after voting begins either this afternoon or tomorrow morning, but the ritual-filled election process to choose Pope John Paul II’s successor could last many more days or even longer.

Worshippers were invited to join the cardinals this morning in one final public ceremony in St Peter’s Basilica, following the end on Saturday of a series of Masses to mourn Pope John Paul II.

Late this afternoon, the cardinals will gather in the Apostolic Palace for a procession to the Sistine Chapel for a first session. The cardinals will hear a prayer in Latin, by the dean of the College of Cardinals, German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, that they be guided “in our hearts in love and in patience.”

Once inside the chapel, the prelates can decide to hold a first ballot late this afternoon, or continue to reflect and begin voting tomorrow morning.

The Turin daily La Stampa said many cardinals, gearing up for a stressful stretch of days, had packed compact disc players along with prayer books and their red hats. Other prelates, it reported, found space in their suitcases for snacks to nibble on in their rooms in the e15 million Domus Sanctae Marthae hotel. John Paul had the residence constructed on the tiny city-state’s grounds so cardinals could rest in more comfort in private rooms between voting sessions in the chapel.

The hotel was swept for potential sources of security breaches, and all staff assisting the cardinals have taken vows of silence.

Rules made by John Paul in 1996 banned mobile phones, TV, radios and newspapers during the conclave to reduce the possibility cardinals could be influenced by outside news while they reflect on choosing the man who will lead the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

The Rome daily La Repubblica reported that there seemed to be no clear indication of how the initial voting might go.

Italians, with 20 cardinals, are the biggest national bloc of the 115 voting churchmen. But the newspaper’s Vatican expert, Marco Politi, wrote that the Italians, whose 455-year-old hold the papacy was broken by John Paul II’s election, were divided and there was no European or Third World candidate who had captured the prelates’ imaginations.

Following solemn tradition, cardinals on Saturday destroyed John Paul’s Fisherman’s Ring and lead seal to formally end his reign.

The next Pope’s name will be announced from the central balcony of the basilica, a short time after tolling bells and puffs of white smoke from the chapel stove signal to the world that the new Pope has been chosen.