Conclave Starts To Pick New Pope

Vatican City — Roman Catholic cardinals began the task on Wednesday of electing a new pope, locking themselves away from the world until they choose the man they hope can unite a diverse but divided global Church.

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In a ritual dating back to medieval times, the cardinals will file into the Vatican's frescoed Sistine Chapel after a public mass in St. Peter's Basilica and start their secret conclave for a successor to Pope Francis, who died last month.

No pope has been elected on the first day of a conclave for centuries, so voting could continue for several days before one of the red-hatted princes of the Church receives the necessary two-thirds majority to become the 267th pontiff.

There will be only one ballot on Wednesday. Thereafter, the cardinals can vote as many as four times a day.

They will burn their ballots, with black smoke from a chimney on the roof of the chapel marking an inconclusive vote, while white smoke and the pealing of bells signaling that the 1.4-billion-member Church has a new leader.

The pope's influence reaches well beyond the Catholic Church, providing a moral voice and a call to conscience that no other global leader can match.

At a mass in St. Peter's Basilica on Wednesday morning before entering the conclave, the cardinals prayed that God would help them find a pope who would exercise "watchful care" over the world.

In a sermon, Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re told his peers they must set aside "every personal consideration" in choosing the new pontiff and keep in mind "only the good of the Church and of humanity." Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, is 91 and will not enter the conclave, which is reserved for cardinals under the age of 80.

Cardinals in recent days have offered different assessments of what they are looking for in the next pontiff.

While some have called for continuity with Francis' vision of greater openness and reform, others have said they want to turn the clock back and embrace old traditions. Many have indicated they want a more predictable, measured pontificate.