About 133 cardinals will gather at the Sistine Chapel in Rome to elect the new pope today.
The cardinals will walk into the Sistine Chapel, chanting the meditative “Litany of the Saints” and the Latin hymn “Veni Creator,” imploring the saints and the Holy Spirit to help them pick a pope.
Once there, they pledge to maintain secrecy about what is about to transpire and to not allow “any interference, opposition or any other form of intervention” from outsiders to influence their voting.
After that, Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa will deliver a meditation before the master of papal liturgical ceremonies, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, calls out “Extra omnes,” Latin for “all out.”
Anyone not eligible to vote then leaves, and the chapel doors close, allowing the work to begin.
The voting process follows a strict procedure, dictated by church law.
Each cardinal writes his choice on a paper inscribed with the words “Eligo in summen pontificem” — “I elect as Supreme Pontiff.”
They approach the altar one by one and say: “I call as my witness, Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who, before God, I think should be elected.”
The first vote is expected by Wednesday evening. Assuming no winner is found, the Vatican said black smoke could be expected out of the Sistine Chapel chimney at around 7 pm.
