Conclave for the Next Pope Starts on Tuesday

The Conclave to elect the next pope is set to begin. One hundred and fifty cardinals have just finished their sixth day of preliminary meetings, also called “general congregations” last Saturday. Cardinals below 80 years of age, 115 of them, will be attending the closed door Conclave starting Tuesday in the Sistine Chapel. These are the ones who are qualified to vote and be voted for the highest position in the Catholic Church’s hierarchy.

A chimney has been installed

Vatican workers have also finished installing a chimney on the roof the Sistine Chapel. Traditionally, the ballots are burned and the smoke would be seen from St. Peter’s Square, where the faithful would be waiting in vigil for news about the Conclave. The smoke from the chimney would signify if a new pontiff has been decided on or not. White smoke would mean that a new pope has been elected, whereas black smoke means another round of voting.

Voting begins on Tuesday

The Conclave will have its first vote on the first day, Tuesday. Thereafter, the cardinals would vote four times a day, until a two-thirds majority, equal to 77 votes, is achieved. A special stove has also been installed which allows for either black or white smoke to come out.

The new pope will replace Pope Benedict XVI who resigned due to frail health. Whoever will be elected will be responsible for 1.2 billion Catholics all over the world and the various problems that beset the Church at this time. This will not be an easy task due to recent and almost never-ending scandals about priests in sexual abuse scandals, the increasing shortage of priests, increasing secularism in the modern age, and internal problems within the Vatican.

Suggested Names – Papabili

There is no indication of a front runner; even nominal front runners have not been become pope in recent memory. But there have been names suggested as possible popes, called the “papabili.” They are France’s Jean-Louis Tauran, Italy’s Angelo Scola and Angelo Bagnasco, Peter Erdo of Hungary, Brazil’s Odilo Pedro Scherer , Argentina’s Jorge Bergoglio, U.S. cardinals Timothy Dolan and Sean O’Malley, Canada’s Marc Ouellet, Peter Turkson of Ghana, Nigeria’s Francis Arinze, Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, Malcolm Ranjith of Sri Lanka and George Pell of Australia.