VATICAN CITY – In a historic gathering steeped in intrigue, cardinals from sixcontinents assembled Monday for their first conclave of the new millennium toelect a pope who will inherit John Paul II’s mantle and guide the world’s 1.1billion Roman Catholics into a new era.
Representing52 countries, the 115 crimson-robed “princes” of a church stung bypriest sex-abuse scandals and an exodus of the faithful celebrated a midmorningMass at St. Peter’s Basilica before sequestering themselves in the SistineChapel late Monday afternoon.
There,seated atop a false floor hiding electronic jamming devices designed to thwarteavesdroppers, they were to take an oath of secrecy, hear a meditation from asenior cardinal and decide whether to take a first vote or wait until Tuesday.
“Thenew pope has already been chosen by the Lord. We just have to pray tounderstand who he is,” Florence Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, considered bysome to be a dark-horse candidate, told believers who gathered for Sunday Massat his titular church in Rome.
Thousandsof pilgrims and tourists were expected to converge on St. Peter’s Square towatch the chapel chimney for the white smoke that ultimately will tell theworld that the church’s 265th pontiff has been elected. The famous stove in thechapel also will bellow black smoke to signal any inconclusive round of voting.
“Ifeel really cool being here,” said Kathy Mullen, 49, a writer from Beverly, Mass.,among the hundreds of pilgrims who lined up early on a sunny morning to passthrough metal detectors on their way into the basilica.
Althoughthe conclave could last for days, a pope could be chosen as early as Mondayafternoon if the red-capped prelates opt to begin casting ballots after theirsolemn procession from the Vatican’sApostolic Palace to the chapel.
Ifthey decide to hold off a day, they will hold four rounds of voting