According to Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, the papal conclave to elect the new pope will begin on Tuesday afternoon.
A “pro eligendo Romano Pontifice” Mass will be celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday morning, after which the cardinals will enter into the conclave. The cardinals will not be permitted to leave the conclave, except for food and sleep, until they have chosen the man who will succeed Pope Benedict XVI.
On Friday, Lombardi said that all 115 cardinals who will take part in the conclave had arrived in Rome.
In preparation for the conclave, workers are preparing the special stoves in the Sistine Chapel that will be used to burn the ballots, as well as installing the chimney stack through which the white smoke will flow once the new pope has been elected.
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