Conclave to choose new pope to begin on 7 May

Catholic cardinals meeting in Rome today have set 7 May as the start date for the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis, a Vatican spokesman said.

The cardinals will take part in a mass at St Peter's Basilica on 7 May, after which those eligible to vote will gather in the Sistine Chapel for the secretive ballot, spokesman Matteo Bruni said.

Earlier, the Vatican closed the Sistine Chapel to begin preparations. Cardinals met for the first time this morning after Saturday's funeral of Pope Francis.

There are 252 cardinals but only 135 of them are aged under 80 and therefore eligible to vote for a new pope.

The vote, held in the Sistine Chapel, is highly secretive and follows strict rules and ceremonial procedures.

There are four votes per day - two in the morning and two in the afternoon - until one candidate secures a two-thirds majority.

Fewer than half of those eligible to vote are European.

The past two conclaves, in 2005 and 2013, lasted just two days but Swedish Cardinal Anders Arborelius said this morning that he expects this conclave may take longer, as many of the cardinals appointed by Pope Francis have never met each other before.

Francis made a priority of appointing cardinals from places that had never had them, such as Myanmar, Haiti, and Rwanda.

Pope Francis died aged 88 on 21 April.

His funeral and a procession through Rome to his burial place at the Basilica of St Mary Major attracted crowds estimated at more than 400,000.

German Cardinal Walter Kasper told La Repubblica newspaper that the outpouring of mourners for Francis indicated that Catholics wanted the next pope to continue with his reforming style of papacy.

Pope Francis, the first pope from Latin America, largely tried to open up the Church to new conversations.

He allowed debate on issues such as ordaining women as clergy and outreach to LGBTQ Catholics.

"The People of God voted with their feet," said Cardinal Kasper, who is 92 and will not take part in the conclave.

"I am convinced that we must go ahead in the footsteps of Francis."

However, a bloc of conservative cardinals are certain to push back against this and seek a pope who reasserts traditions and restricts Francis' vision of a more inclusive Church.

"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.

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.

With conflicts and diplomatic crises raging around the world, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who under Pope 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 Metropolitan Archbishop emeritus of Manila, followed by Ghana's Cardinal Peter Turkson.

Next in their odds comes Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, then Guinea's Cardinal Robert Sarah, and Matteo Zuppi, the Archbishop of Bologna.

While Pope Francis's efforts to create a more compassionate Church earned him widespread affection and respect, some of his reforms angered the Church's conservative wing, particularly in the United States and Africa.

Roberto Regoli, a professor of Church history and culture at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, said the cardinals would be looking "to find someone who knows how to forge greater unity".

"We are in a period in which Catholicism is experiencing various polarisations, so I don't imagine it will be a very, very quick conclave," he said.

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The cardinals have held general meetings since Pope Francis's death to make decisions about the funeral and beyond.

So far, there has been an atmosphere of "great openness", Italian Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi told La Repubblica newspaper.

"There are different opinions, but there is a more spiritual than political or combative climate," he said.

"The future pope must have a universal heart, love all the continents. We must not look at colour, at origin, but at what is proposed," Cardinal Dieudonne Nzapalainga from the Central African Republic told the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero.

"We need a courageous leader, a bold one, capable of speaking forcefully, of holding the helm of the Church steady even in storms... offering stability in an era of great uncertainty."