Conclave to elect new pope will start on May 7

It comes as the 16th-century Sistine Chapel, where conclaves are held, was closed to tourists on Monday to allow for preparations for the vote

Cardinals pray in front of the grave of late Pope Francis. Picture: AP Photo/Andrew Medichini

Catholic cardinals have set May 7 as the starting date for the conclave to elect Pope Francis’s successor, delaying the secret voting for two days to help them get to know one another better and find consensus on a candidate before they are sequestered in the Sistine Chapel.

The cardinals set the date after arriving for the first day of informal meetings following Francis’s funeral on Saturday.

In chaotic scenes, journalists shouted out questions to the cardinals about the mood inside, whether there was unity, and when the conclave would begin.

A reporter for a satirical Italian television programme repeatedly asked whether an Italian cardinal who has been convicted by the Vatican criminal court on finance-related charges will be allowed to vote.

“There is the hope of unity,” said Argentine Cardinal Angel Sixto Rossi, the 66-year-old Archbishop of Cordoba, who was made a cardinal by Francis in 2023.

Some 135 cardinals, all under the age of 80 and from across the world, are eligible to take part in the conclave and decide who should be the next leader of the 1.4-billion-member Church.

The 16th-century Sistine Chapel, where conclaves are held, was closed to tourists on Monday to allow for preparations for the vote.

The past two conclaves, in 2005 and 2013, lasted just two days. But Swedish Cardinal Anders Arborelius said on Monday he expects this conclave may take longer, as many of the cardinals appointed by Pope Francis have never met each other before.

Francis made a priority of appointing cardinals from places that had never had them, such as Myanmar, Haiti, and Rwanda.

"We don't know each other," Arborelius, one of about 135 cardinals under the age of 80 who will enter the conclave, said.

The earliest the conclave could have begun was May 6. Starting it a day later means cardinals will have slightly more time for their general discussions ahead of the momentous ballot.

Many cardinals cited the desire to continue Francis’s pastoral focus on people who are marginalised and against war.

But conservatives in the ranks may be more focused on forging unity and refocusing the church back to core doctrines emphasised by St John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, rather than continuing Francis’s social justice focus and outreach to women and gays.

British Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the 79-year-old Archbishop of Westminster, is adamant that the Catholic Church must strive for unity, and played down divisions.

“The role of the pope is to essentially hold us together and that’s the grace we’ve been given from God,” he said.

Venezuelan Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo expressed confidence that once the conclave begins a decision will be quick – “between two and three days”.

The College of Cardinals that will elect a new pope includes members from far-flung corners of the globe whom Francis named over his 12-year papacy to bring in new points of views of the Church hierarchy.

Many have spent little or no time in Rome getting to know their colleagues, injecting some uncertainty into a process that requires two-thirds of the voting-age cardinals to coalesce behind a single candidate.

Cardinal Nichols also acknowledged that the 135 cardinal electors – 108 of whom were appointed by Francis – do not know each other very well. The last 20 were appointed in early December.

“We’ve got all week,” he said as he arrived on Monday.

Only cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote, and it is not clear how many of the 135 will participate. A Spanish cardinal has already said he will not go to Rome for health reasons.

A big uncertainty is whether Cardinal Angelo Becciu, once one of the most powerful cardinals in the Vatican, will be allowed in the Sistine Chapel.

In 2020 Francis forced him to resign as head of the Vatican’s saint-making office and renounce his rights as a cardinal because of allegations of embezzlement and financial fraud.

Cardinal Becciu denied any wrongdoing but was put on trial in the Vatican criminal court and convicted of finance-related charges in December, 2023.

He is appealing against the conviction and has participated in the pre-conclave meetings, but there is a lingering question about whether he is entitled to vote.

The Vatican’s official statistics list him as a “non-elector”.

When he was ousted in 2020, he told a hastily arranged press conference that he would not be voting in any future conclave, but recently he has insisted he is entitled to vote and canon lawyers have been poring over the Vatican document regulating the conclave to determine if he is right.

While Francis stacked the ranks with his cardinals, it is not necessarily the case that all of them will want to see the church continue in his image.

On Monday morning, any glimpse of a red cap appearing along St Peter’s Square’s stately colonnade set journalists running with cameras and voice recorders aloft to capture the mood inside, however fleeting.

Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, considered a contender to be the next pope, navigated the scrum of converging journalists with humour, but did not give anything away. He joked that he was “holding his breath” as the microphones and cameras surrounded him all the way to the Vatican gate.

Nigerian Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, the Emeritus Archbishop of Abuja, was asked if the African cardinals were coalescing around a particular candidate.

African bishops had made a remarkably united stand last year against Francis’s outreach to LGBTQ+ people, refusing to implement his declaration allowing priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples. Given such a stand, there is some speculation that the 18 African cardinal electors could help block a progressive candidate from emerging.

“We have not come here for a political rally. We have come to get a pope out,” said Cardinal Onaiyekan, who at 81 is too old to vote but can have a role in influencing how younger electors might.

Indian Cardinal Anthony Poola, the 61-year-old Archbishop of Hyderabad, said he has experienced a sense of unity among his fellow cardinals but allowed that “anything could happen”.

As a relatively young cardinal, he is one of four Indian electors who will participate in the conclave, three of whom, including him, were named by Francis.

“Anyone who is coming up must be the successor of St Peter, and we all hope that he will be a good pope,” he said.

Cardinal Rossi said he hopes Francis’s message of “mercy, closeness, charity, tenderness and faith” will accompany them in finding a successor.

But he acknowledged the job is daunting.

Asked how he feels about participating in his first conclave, he responded with a laugh: “Afraid.″

• Associated Press and Reuters