Conclave to elect new pope to begin meeting on May 7, Vatican announces

Catholic cardinals will meet on May 7 to start voting for a new pope, the Vatican announces, a week after the death of Pope Francis.

So-called “Princes of the Church” under the age of 80 will meet in the Sistine Chapel to choose a new religious leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

The date was decided at meeting of cardinals of all ages, two days after the funeral of Francis, who died on April 21 aged 88.

The Church’s 252 cardinals were called back to Rome after the Argentine’s death, although only 135 are eligible to vote in the conclave.

They hail from all corners of the globe and many of them do not know each other.

But they already had four meetings last week, so-called “general congregations,” where they began to get better acquainted.

The Vatican closed the Sistine Chapel, where voting will take place under Michelangelo’s 16th-century ceiling frescoes, to begin preparations.

So far there are few clues as to whom cardinals might choose.