Secrecy and intrigue: The Papal conclave begins

In a historic gathering steeped in intrigue, cardinals from six continents today open their first conclave of the new millennium to elect a pope who will inherit John Paul II’s mantle and guide the world’s 1.1 billion Roman Catholics into a new era.

Representing 52 countries, the 115 crimson-robed ”princes” of a church stung by priest sex-abuse scandals and an exodus of the faithful were to celebrate a midmorning Mass at St Peter’s Basilica before sequestering themselves in the Sistine Chapel at 4.30pm local time (2.30pm Irish time).

There, on a false floor hiding electronic jamming devices designed to thwart eavesdroppers, they were to take an oath of secrecy, hear a meditation from a senior cardinal and decide whether to take a first vote – or wait until tomorrow.

“The new pope has already been chosen by the Lord. We just have to pray to understand who he is,” Florence Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, considered by some to be a dark-horse candidate, told believers who gathered for Sunday Mass at his titular church in Rome.

Thousands of pilgrims and tourists were expected to converge on St Peter’s Square to watch the chapel chimney for the white smoke that ultimately will tell the world that the church’s 265th pontiff has been elected.

Yesterday, the cardinals moved into the super-secure Domus Sanctae Marthae, a hotel that John Paul had constructed inside Vatican City so they could rest in comfort in private rooms between voting sessions.

The daily paper La Stampa said cardinals gearing up for a stressful stretch of days had packed CD players and headphones in their bags along with prayer books and snacks.

Cardinals face a choice that boils down to two options: an older, skilled administrator who could serve as a ”transitional” pope while the church absorbs John Paul’s legacy, or a younger dynamic pastor and communicator who could build on the late pontiff’s popularity.

Among the issues sure to figure prominently in the conclave: containing the priest sex-abuse scandals that have cost the church millions in settlements in the United States; coping with a chronic shortage of priests and nuns in the West; halting the stream of people leaving a church whose teachings they no longer find relevant; and improving dialogue with the Islamic world.