ieExplains: How conclave will elect a new pope and who are the favourites?
March 2013: Then newly elected Pope Francis I waves to the waiting crowd from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica on March 13, 2013 in Vatican City, Vatican. Picture: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
The death of Pope Francis starts a centuries-old ritual involving sacred oaths by the cardinals electing a successor, the piercing of ballots with a needle and thread after they’re counted, and then burning them to produce either the white or black smoke to signal if there’s a new leader for the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics.
The election itself is shrouded in secrecy, with cardinals forbidden from communicating with the outside world what happened during the voting in the conclave behind the frescoed walls of the Sistine Chapel.
