Election of new Pontiff may start in two weeks

THE death of the Pope immediately sets into motion an historic chain of events to elect a successor and prevent any risk of division in the Roman Catholic Church.

Within not less than two weeks, cardinals will enter a solemnly secret conclave in the Sistine Chapel, under Michelangelo's awesome fresco of the Last Judgment to elect the 262nd successor to the apostle Peter.

Although the Pontiff is the universal leader of more than a billion Catholics, the election reaffirms the intimate link between the Papacy and the eternal city.