All 133 cardinals arrived in Rome for Conclave to choose a new pope

The Vatican said all 133 cardinals younger than 80, who have the right to participate in the election of a new pope, arrived in Rome in front of the conclave starting on Wednesday.

The cardinals will gather in the Sistine Chapel to start the vote, which will last until one of them has a two -thirds majority and becomes the new leader of 1.4 billion Catholics around the world.

The cardinals are housed at St. Martha’s residence, where the recently deceased Pope Francis lived, who died on Easter Monday at the age of 88. The Vatican said that during the conclave cardinals they must hand over their phones, and the kitchen in St. Martha will only prepare light meals.

Voting is secret, and the two -thirds majority is necessary to select Francis’s successor, a process that can take several days, and even weeks. The longest conclava in recent history was held in 1831, when Pope Gigur XVI was chosen after more than 50 days, while the longest in the 20th century lasted five days, when Pius XI was elected in 1922. The last two conclaves, in 2005 and 2013, lasted two days, with Benedict XVI elected in the fourth and Francis in the fifth round of voting.

After every two rounds of voting in the Sistine Chapel, the cardinal ballots are burned in a separate oven to show the outcome of the voting in front of the outside world. If the voting does not choose the pope, the petals are mixed with potassium perchlorate patrons, anthracen (component of coal tar) and sulfur to obtain black smoke. When the voting will determine the winner, the petals are mixed with potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin to obtain white smoke.

After a successful vote, the newly elected Pope wonders if he accepts his duty and what name he will choose. A high cardinal then goes out on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and publishes « Habemus Papam » (we have a pope), after which the new pope blesses the gathered people.