Cardinals begin to elect new pope

Mar 12 2013

Cardinals from around the globe have locked themselves inside the Sistine Chapel to choose a new leader for the world's 1.2 billion Catholics and their troubled church.

Surrounded by Michelangelo's imposing frescos imagining the beginning and the end of the world, the 115 scarlet-robed men entered their conclave with a final appeal for unity to heal the divisions that have been exposed by Pope Benedict XVI's resignation and revelations of corruption in the Vatican bureaucracy.

Led by prelates holding a crucifix and candles, the cardinals chanted the Litany of Saints, the Gregorian chant imploring the intercession of the saints, as they filed into the chapel and took their oath of secrecy.

With a dramatic closing of the thick double doors and the exhortation "Extra omnes" or "all out," the ritual-filled conclave began beneath Michelangelo's frescoed "Creation" and before his "Last Judgment" - potent images for the task at hand.

Benedict XVI's resignation has thrown the church into turmoil and exposed deep divisions among cardinals grappling with the apparently conflicting needs for a manager to clean up the Vatican's dysfunctional bureaucracy and a pastor who can inspire Catholics at a time of waning faith and growing secularism.

The buzz swirled around Cardinal Angelo Scola, an Italian seen as favoured by cardinals hoping to shake up the powerful Vatican bureaucracy, and Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Scherer, a favourite of Vatican-based insiders intent on preserving the status quo. Other names included Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who heads the Vatican's powerful office for bishops, and US Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the exuberant archbishop of New York.

For over a week, the cardinals have met behind closed doors to try to figure out who among them has the stuff to be pope and what his priorities should be. But they ended the debate with questions still unanswered, and many predicting a drawn-out election that will further expose the church's divisions. The conclave proceeds in silence, with no debate.

The cardinals began the process by filing into the Sistine Chapel. After the doors closed, they heard a meditation by an elderly Maltese cardinal and were then expected to cast their first ballots.

Assuming they vote, the first puffs of smoke should emerge from the chapel chimney by early evening - black for no pope, white if a pope has been chosen.

While few people expect a pontiff to be elected on the first ballot, the Vatican was ready: In the Room of Tears off the Sistine Chapel, three sizes of white cassocks hung from a clothes rack. Underneath, seven white shoe boxes were piled, presumably containing the various sizes of the red leather shoes that popes traditionally wear. The room gets its name from the weight of the job thrust upon the new pontiff.