Conclave Date to Be Announced After 7pm Rome Time
All voting cardinals are present in Rome and are expected to decide the conclave’s start date.
VATICAN CITY — The day when the cardinals begin to vote for the next pope will be announced after 7pm local time.
“The result of the voting of when the conclave will take place will be announced after the cardinals’ afternoon meeting at 7pm,” said the Holy See Press Office director, Father Federico Lombardi.
“The conclave will not be tomorrow or Sunday, but it could be sometime early next week,” said Father Lombardi.
He added that the cardinals will meet in a session tomorrow morning, but not in the afternoon. On Sunday, many of the cardinals will celebrate Mass in their titular churches.
The last cardinal who will take part in the preliminary meetings and the conclave arrived in Rome on the afternoon of March 7. The group is now complete and can agree on the date of the conclave.
There were 151 cardinals present in yesterday afternoon’s preliminary session, and the two newly arrived cardinals took the oath.
The cardinals spoke this morning about interreligious dialogue, bioethics, justice in the world, a positive proclamation of love and justice and on collegiality among the world bishops.
