The conclave that will eliminate the next pope will open on May 7 – Liberation

White smoke, black smoke? It will be from Wednesday May 7 that the cardinals gathered in conclave will meet to designate the new Pope, after the death of François on April 21announced the Italian news agency Ansa on Monday.

The Sistine Chapel, which will host the event, is now closed, the Vatican Museums also said on Musée on Monday. « Please note that the chapel will be closed to the public from Monday, April 28, 2025 for the needs of the conclave », Indicates the site, visited each year by millions of people.

During the conclave, which takes place according to a ceremonial developed over the centuries, the 135 cardinals called to vote (aged under the age of 80) will meet there to choose in the greatest secrecy a successor to François. The ballot can last for several days. The name of the chief of more than 1.4 billion Catholics will then be announced « Urbi et Orbi » at the end of the Conclave.

For experts, the ability of the future pope to unite the Church in an increasingly fractured geopolitical context could be a decisive element, more than its nationality. The Italian cardinal Pietro Parolin, ex-Numéro 2 by François, is among the favorites of British bookmakers, just like the Philippin Luis Antonio Tagle, Metropolitan Archbishop Emeritus of Manila. If François has left the image of a reformist pope in the outskirt, nothing says that the next sovereign pontiff will be part of the same line, warn experts.

He himself was very different from his predecessor Benoît XVIa German intellectual little at ease in public who himself contrasted with the charismatic, sporting and immensely popular Polish pope John Paul II. The Argentinian Jesuit has appointed 80 % of cardinals called to elect his successor, but nothing is played in advance for Cardinal Hollerich: “The Pope did not name clones. They have positions on certain very different points. ”