Conclave to elect new pope to start on May 7

Catholic cardinals will meet on May 7 to start voting for a new pope, the Vatican announced on April 28, a week after the death of Pope Francis.

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VATICAN CITY -

The so-called "princes" of the Church under the age of 80 will meet in the Sistine Chapel to choose a new religious leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.

The date was decided during a meeting of cardinals early on April 28, two days after the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on April 21, aged 88.

The Church's 252 cardinals were called back to Vatican City following the death of Pope Francis, although only 135 are aged under 80 and, therefore, eligible to vote for a new pope.

They hail from all corners of the globe, and many of them do not know one another.

But they already had four meetings last week, so-called general congregations, where they began to get better acquainted.

Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, 83, a former head of the Italian bishops' conference, said there was a "beautiful, fraternal atmosphere".

"Of course, there may be some difficulties because the voters have never been so numerous and not everyone knows one another," he told Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper.

So far, there are few clues as to who they might choose.

"I believe that if Francis had been the pope of surprises, this conclave will be too, as it is not at all predictable," Spanish Cardinal Jose Cobo told El Pais in an interview published on April 27.