These are the details of the conclave in which the new Pope will be chosen

The conclave to choose the successor of Pope Francis will begin on May 7, said the director of the press office of the VaticanMatheo Bruni.

A total of 135 cardinals can vote for the high pontiff number 267, but two of them will not go due to health problems.

According to the norms of the apostolic constitution of John Paul II, Universi Dominici Gregisupdated by Benedict XVI, which govern the Vatican elections, the cardinals over 80 years do not vote, but can participate in the masses.

Cuban cardinal, Havana Archbishop Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguezelected in 2019 by the late Pontiff, will participate for the first time in the conclave.

The first vote, and therefore the first fumata, will be on the afternoon of that day in the Sistine Chapel, closed to the public as of this Monday to start the preparations.

The total closure will begin when after the shout «extra omnes» (all outside!), The people outside the conclave are removed and the doors of the Sistine Chapel are closed, the cardinals remain alone, which lend an oath of silence about everything that is said there.

The cardinals will vote four times a day from the second day, May 8.

The smoking will be black as long as they do not reach a consensus, but when a candidate reaches the 77 votes necessary to be chosen, and accepts to assume that responsibility, the smoke will be white and will be accompanied by the repique of the bells of San Pedro, followed by the rest of the churches of Rome.

During the conclave, the sloping will reside in the Santa Marta house, the residence within the Vatican enclosure, where they will live totally isolated from the rest of the world while the election lasts.

During his homily at the Mass of the third of the novelty for the deceased Pope, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome, reminded the cardinals that Francisco was a universal pastor, «and Pedro’s boat needs this wide navigation that goes beyond borders and surprises,” he said, quoted by Vatican News.

«Our duty must be to discern and order what has begun, in the light of what our mission demands of us, in the direction of a new sky and a new earth,» he said. The risk, the religious pointed out, is that «you can try to dress the wife», that is, to the Catholic Church, «according to worldly conveniences, guided by ideological claims that tear the unity of Christ’s garments.»

Reina pointed out that the Cardinals for the power of choice have the challenge of seeking «a guide that knows how to manage the fear of loss to the demands of the Gospel (…). That has the gaze of Jesus, epiphany of the humanity of God, in a world that has inhuman features.»

More than 70 thousand faithful have already passed before the tomb of Pope Francis in the Basilica of Santa María la Mayor, according to the Higher Headquarters of Polícía.