Watch: Cardinals to begin choosing new pope in largest ever conclave

Election could be most unpredictable in church’s history with 133 diverse and divided participants in Sistine Chapel

A chair is taken away at the end of a final Mass celebrated by cardinals inside St. Peter's Basilica, before the conclave to elect a new pope, at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Catholic cardinals from all over the world will begin casting their votes for a new pope under Michelangelo’s The Last Judgment ceiling fresco in the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday afternoon in what is the largest and possibly the most unpredictable conclave to ever take place.

One of the legacies of Pope Francis, who died last month aged 88, was to leave behind a widely diverse but divided college of cardinals, with some in harmony with the progressive church he promoted and others wanting to overthrow his changes and turn back the clock.