Canadian Cardinal Thomas Christopher Collins (right) and Cardinal Francis Leo walk on Della Conciliazione Street near the Vatican, St. Peter's Basilica, in the background on Monday in Rome. Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images Closed subtitles
Vatican City - With more than a billion days of Catholics in the world waiting for the election of the new pope, all eyes will be on the Sistine Church, where 133 cardinals will begin the process known as the Secret in the Vatican City on Wednesday morning.
Throughout the week, pilgrims and journalists flocked to St. Peter’s Square as the Cardinals held a closed meeting discussing the issues of the church and the qualities they wanted to see in the next pope. Pilgrims sing divine hymns, while journalists try to pick on the Cardinals for their papal preferences.
Pope Francis died on April 21 at the age of 88.
The conference will be held Wednesday with a special mass as his successor to St. Peter's Basilica, following nine days of service to Francis.
From there, the Cardinal in red robes will head to Michelangelo's famous murals, they will hear the preaching and then start the vote.
Until they elected a new Pope (the chimney flow-flow-spread chimney flow-spread plug on the church of Esistine, the Cardinal was isolated in the Vatican city and unable to enter the outside world. Outside the church, the Pope Swiss defender stood and observed.
These rituals were conducted according to the rules that the Pope had done over the centuries, clarifying the timeline and obligations. But, as Pope John Paul II wrote, the meeting itself must be covered up by “complete confidentiality.” Cardinal voters must sign a vow of confidentiality and seclusion under the threat of deportation.
That's why the process has attracted so many people, librarian Gregg Gassman said Pontifacts podcast.
"Some of the mysteries do come from the closed nature of the conference itself," he said. "It's interesting."
“The first night is just one round after another, and then you’ll see black smoke or white smoke,” said Kurt Martens, an average professor at the Canon School of Law at Catholic University in the United States.
Normally, the first round only shows the Cardinal’s priorities, he said. The next day, the general meeting began two rounds of voting every morning and two votes in the afternoon.
After each vote, thread a needle through the ballot, tying them together. If no two-thirds of the majority appear, the two packages will be "placed in that stove at the corner of Sistine Church, burning them and producing any smoke that needs to be produced - white or black," Martens said.
Churches used to use wet straws or dry straws to produce the right color, but to avoid confusion, the process now relies on chemicals.
The Cardinal will continue to pray and vote until he is elected as the New Pope.
“All the summary since the 1900s has been less than four days,” said host Bry Jensen, Pontifacts.
After a successful vote, two questions were asked for winning candidates. The first is whether they accept elections as popes.
"Then the second question would be 'What name did you choose?' and then the name was selected," Martens said.
As NPR reported in 2013, many believers in Buenos Aires called their archbishop "father Jorge" before Pope Francis was elected.
The official documents have been filled in and the new pope was dedicated to the papal costume.
"It's usually three outfits are prepared," Martens said.
Shortly thereafter, the senior cardinal deacon will appear on the balcony of St. Peter's Square, announcing that Carroll! - "We have a pope!"
Then, it will be the new pope pouring into the balcony and bringing his first blessing.