Cardinals set date for start of conclave

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY

Cardinals have set Tuesday as the start date for the conclave to elect the next pope, a milestone in this unusual papal transition and an indication that even without an obvious front-runner, the cardinals have a fairly good idea of who best among them can lead the Catholic Church and tackle its many problems.

The conclave date was set Friday afternoon during a vote by the College of Cardinals who have been meeting all week to discuss the church’s problems and priorities and the qualities a new pope must possess.

Tuesday will begin with a morning Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, followed by a solemn procession into the Sistine Chapel and the first round of secret balloting in the afternoon.

Only one vote takes place the first afternoon. If black smoke is sent snaking out of the chapel chimney to indicate there is no immediate victor, the cardinals will retire for the day. They will return Wednesday for two rounds of balloting in the morning and two rounds in the afternoon until a pope has been chosen.

In the past 100 years, no conclave has lasted longer than five days.

That said, there doesn’t appear to be a front-runner in this election for a successor to the retired Benedict XVI, and the past week of deliberations has exposed sharp divisions among cardinals about some of the pressing problems facing the church, including of governance within the Holy See itself.

U.S. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, considered a papal contender, said in a blog post Friday that most of the discussions in the closed-door meetings covered preaching and teaching the Catholic faith, tending to Catholic schools and hospitals, protecting families and the unborn, supporting priests “and getting more of them!”