New Pope Election: Cardinals Celebrate Final Mass Before Conclavea

Cardinals from across five continents gathered on Wednesday at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican for a final mass before entering seclusion to elect a new pope for the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church.

According to the report, 133 cardinal electors are expected to participate in the conclave the formal process to choose a successor to Pope Francis, who passed away last month at the age of 88 after serving as pontiff for 12 years.

Currently, there is no dominant candidate among the cardinals, who reflect a mix of progressive and conservative ideologies within the Church, making the election of the 267th pope highly unpredictable.

The pre-conclave mass, held at 10:00 a.m. (0800 GMT), was led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals. It marks the final public ceremony before the new pope is revealed from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in the coming days.

While Pope Francis and Benedict XVI were both elected within two days, history notes that the longest conclave, held between 1268 and 1271, spanned 1,006 days.

This conclave will be the largest in Church history, featuring cardinals from around 70 nations. To be elected, a candidate must secure at least 89 votes—a two-thirds majority. Only cardinals under the age of 80 are permitted to vote.

The electors are residing at the Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse, formerly Pope Francis’s residence, and the adjacent Santa Marta Vecchia, typically reserved for Vatican staff.

At 3:45 p.m., the cardinals will leave for the Pauline Chapel in the Apostolic Palace for a prayer session scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Broadcast Commission of Nigeria (CBCN) confirmed that Cardinal Peter Okpaleke is the only Nigerian eligible to vote in the conclave.