28-04-2025
Cardinals to convene for decision on start of conclave
Thousands of mourners queued to visit Pope Francis's tomb on Sunday as attention among cardinals shifted to preparations for the conclave, the secretive process that will choose the new head of the Catholic Church.
Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, aged 88, after suffering a stroke and subsequent coma and cardiac arrest, less than a month after his discharge from a 38-day stay in hospital in which he battled double pneumonia.
An estimated 250,000 people attended Francis's funeral in St Peter's Square on Saturday, among them a line-up of world leaders including President Trump, President Zelensky and Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister.
The coffin was driven through Rome's streets on a converted 'popemobile', flanked by crowds estimated at 150,000, to the Basilica of St Mary Major, where it was interred in a private ceremony on Saturday afternoon.
Photographs released by the Vatican showed a simple marble slab engraved with the Latin name Franciscus.
A reproduction of the plain cross he once wore hangs above the burial niche. A single white rose was placed on the tomb.
Francis is the eighth pope to be buried at Saint Mary Major, one of Rome's four major papal basilicas. He would frequently go there, bearing roses, before and after trips he made abroad. He would pray before the Salus Populi Romani, a Byzantine icon of the Virgin Mary painted on cedarwood and believed to have been taken to the basilica by Pope Gregory I in AD590.
Hundreds of mourners were queueing before dawn and there were several thousand people in the line shortly before noon, the Ansa news agency reported.
RICCARDO DE LUCA/ANADOLU/GETTY IMAGES
RICCARDO DE LUCA/ANADOLU/GETTY IMAGES
Maria Brzezinska, a Polish pilgrim, said after paying her respects: 'I feel like it's exactly in the way of the Pope. He was simple, and so is his place now.'
A police spokesperson said that 60,000 people had visited the tomb by Sunday afternoon. Many queued for two hours before entering, according to Italian media.
Cardinals were expected to reconvene at 9am on Monday in their daily general congregations, meetings in the Synod Hall that manage urgent Vatican business during the vacancy of the papal seat. The gatherings ran from Tuesday to Friday last week before pausing for the funeral.
They have so far focused on immediate governance, including setting the funeral date, scheduling nine days of mourning and suspending planned beatifications. Their focus will now shift towards selecting Francis's successor.
• The road to the next Pope: a visual timeline
High up on their agenda will be to decide whether Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who was stripped of his rights as a cardinal by Francis after a conviction in 2023 for financial crimes, should be permitted to vote. La Repubblica reported that cardinals could select the conclave date in Monday's general congregation.
Asked if a date would be set on Monday, Matteo Bruni, the Vatican's spokesman, told The Times: 'We have given no information concerning that decision whatsoever.'
Vatican rules stipulate that a conclave must begin between 15 and 20 days after a pope's death or resignation. Of the 252 serving cardinals, 135 are under the age of 80 and thus eligible to vote. Most of them were appointed by Francis.
Opinions among senior figures vary over how the conclave will unfold. Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the Archbishop of Munich and Freising and a member of the 'C9' Council of Cardinals appointed by Francis, told reporters shortly after the funeral that he believed the process would be swift, lasting 'just a few days'.
He added: 'Everything is open. It is not a question of language, country or culture. It's about the person. It's not even a question of whether he is conservative or progressive. It is a question of credibility and dialogue.'
His comments contrasted with those of Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, the Archbishop of Cologne, who told the German agency DPA last week that he expected a 'longer, more complex conclave' because of the 'heterogeneous' character of the electors.
Francis was elected in 2013 in about 24 hours, but papal elections can be much slower. The longest conclave in history, that of Pope Gregory X in the 13th century, took two years and nine months to conclude after fierce divisions between French and Italian cardinals.
On Sunday afternoon, more than 110 cardinals wearing black robes and red sashes filed into Saint Mary Major to pay their respects to Francis's tomb and pray before the Salus Populi Romani icon. A Vespers service was then held in the basilica.
