11 h. ago Conclave live: Who will be the next Pope? First vote to elect new leader of Catholic Church underway with cardinals locked inside Sistine Chapel

MAILONLINE BLOG: Follow live coverage as Catholic cardinals elect the next Pope in the highly secretive conclave to lead the Vatican following the death of Pope Francis last month.

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12 h. ago The conclave begins: 133 cardinals enter the Sistine Chapel where they will seal themselves off from the world as secretive vote to elect a new pope gets underway

Once inside, they will pledge to maintain secrecy about what's about to transpire and to not allow any interference from outsiders to influence their voting.

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14 h. ago Conclave live: Vatican cuts phone signal ahead of secret Sistine Chapel vote to elect new pope

In the pre-conclave Mass, senior cardinal Giovanni Battista Re prayed for the cardinal electors to be enlightened to choose “the Pope our time needs”

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18 h. ago Why the Vatican will cut the phone signal ahead of the secret Conclave vote

The Vatican has made sure that what happens in the Sistine Chapel stays in the Sistine Chapel

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19 h. ago Conclave begins at Vatican as secret voting for new Pope to get underway

Following a special mass in St Peter’s Basilica, the group will go into the Sistine Chapel where they will have no contact with the outside world until white smoke rises into the air.

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34 h. ago ‘Signal jammers’ to staff oaths: How the conclave will be kept secret

The Vatican has made sure that what happens in the Sistine Chapel stays in the Sistine Chapel

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2 w. ago Conclave: the Vatican’s secret process for choosing a new pope

Cardinals will soon gather under Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling to elect Francis’s successorLatest updates: tributes paid after Pope Francis dies aged 88The next pope will be chosen by the College of Cardinals, the Catholic church’s most senior figures appointed by the pontiff, who will make their way to Rome in the next few days for the conclave. The name comes from the Latin cum clave, meaning “with key”, indicating the closed process of electing a pope.There are more than 220 cardinals from more than 70 countries, but only about 120 are cardinal electors (those over the age of 80 are excluded). Two-thirds of the cardinal electors have been chosen by Francis in the past 10 years and largely reflect his vision of a more inclusive church. Continue reading...

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