Cardinals Set To Pick Conclave Date To Elect New Pope
Cardinals Set To Pick Conclave Date To Elect New Pope
April 28, 2025
11:20 am
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Cardinals Set To Pick Conclave Date To Elect New Pope
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There are 252 cardinals but only 135 of them are aged under 80 and therefore eligible to vote for a new pope.
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Cardinals attend a holy mass a day after the funeral of Pope Francis, at St Peter’s square in The Vatican, on April 27, 2025.
Red-hatted cardinals were expected to pick a date Monday for the conclave to elect a new leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, following the death of Pope Francis.
Dozens of so-called “Princes of the Church” from across the world have been gathering at the Vatican since the 88-year-old Argentine pontiff died on April 21.
But so far there are few clues as to who they might choose next.
“I believe that if Francis has been the pope of surprises, this conclave will be too, as it is not at all predictable,” Spanish Cardinal Jose Cobo said in an interview published Sunday.
Cardinal Jose Cobo Cano leads a mass in the Almudena cathedral of Madrid, on April 21, 2025. Pope Francis died on April 21, 2025 aged 88, a day after making a much hoped-for appearance at Saint Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday, the Vatican said in a statement.
In previous conclaves, “you can see where things might go”, he told El Pais newspaper, whereas this time many cardinals hail from beyond Europe and have not even met each other before.
Francis was laid to rest Saturday with a funeral and burial ceremony that drew 400,000 people to St Peter’s Square and beyond, including royalty, world leaders and ordinary pilgrims.
Vast crowds also gathered Sunday to view his marble tomb in the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome, after the “pope of the poor” opted to be buried outside the Vatican’s walls.
With conflicts and diplomatic crises raging around the world, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who under Francis was secretary of state — the pope’s number two — is for many the favourite to succeed him.
British bookmakers William Hill put him slightly ahead of Filipino Luis Antonio Tagle, the Metropo
