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Cardinals have entered St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican to celebrate a final Mass ahead of the conclave to elect the next pope.
The Mass precedes the formal start of the process to choose a new leader of the Catholic Church, following the death of Pope Francis on 21 April at the age of 88.
The dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, is presiding over the Mass, offering prayers for wisdom, good counsel, and understanding as the cardinals prepare to enter the Sistine Chapel later today to begin voting.
The College of Cardinals, consisting of 133 eligible members from 70 countries, is tasked with selecting a new pope for the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. During the conclave, the cardinals will be completely sequestered from the outside world. They will surrender their mobile phones and operate in an environment where external communications are blocked to maintain the secrecy of the proceedings.
