A view of the chair of St. Peter, in St. Peter's Basilica. Credit: CatholicVote (McKenna Snow)
VATICAN CITY // The conclave to elect the Catholic Church’s 267th pope will begin May 7, the Holy See Press Office announced Monday.
On the morning of May 7 just before the conclave convenes, the College of Cardinals will celebrate the Mass “Pro eligendo Romano Pontifice,” Latin for, “for the election of the Roman Pontiff.”
After the Mass the cardinals will go into the Sistine Chapel, where the conclave takes place under the strictest confidentiality.
The cardinals will cast their first vote on who should be the next pope in the afternoon of May 7. A pope is chosen when there is a two-thirds majority in agreement. There are 135 electors registered to vote, and 134 are set to be present to participate in the vote. Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, emeritus of Valencia, has announced that he will not be in attendance due to health reasons.
Throughout this week, the Church will continue the traditional period called Novemdiales, nine days of mourning the death of a pope. Each day, a cardinal celebrates a Mass for the repose of the soul of the pope. The late Pope Francis’ funeral Mass, which took place April 26, marked the first day of Novemdiales.
The length of a conclave can vary tremendously. The late Pope Francis was elected the 266th pope on the second day of the conclave in 2013.
The longest conclave in history lasted several years, from 1268 to 1271 due to intense interior disagreements, but no conclave since has come close to lasting that long.
The last six conclaves, since the election of Pope Paul VI have lasted between two and three days.
The next pope will assume the tremendous responsibility of shepherding the global Catholic Church, with the ability to write encyclicals, deliver weekly Angelus addresses, participate in General Audiences, determine saintly canonizations, and guide the Church through new moral questions as they arise, among many other duties.
Cardinal Raymond Burke has begun a novena praying for the conclave, which can be accessed here.