What comes now after the dying of Pope Francis?

Pope Francis has died on the age of 88, after 12 years as non secular chief of the Roman Catholic Church.

His dying has set in movement the centuries-old strategy of electing a brand new Pope.

The Pope is the pinnacle of the Catholic Church. Roman Catholics imagine he represents a direct line again to Jesus Christ. He’s thought of a residing successor to St Peter, who was chief amongst Christ’s preliminary disciples, the Apostles.

That provides him full and unhindered energy over all the Catholic Church and makes him an essential supply of authority for the world’s roughly 1.4 billion Catholics.

Whereas many Catholics usually seek the advice of the Bible for steering, they’ll additionally flip to the teachings of the Pope, which govern the Church’s beliefs and practices.

About half of all Christians worldwide are Roman Catholics. Different denominations, together with Protestants and Orthodox Christians, don’t recognise the Pope’s authority.

The Pope lives in Vatican Metropolis, the smallest impartial state on the earth. It’s surrounded by the Italian capital, Rome.

The Pope doesn’t obtain a wage, however all his journey prices and residing bills are paid for by the Vatican.

A papal funeral has historically been an elaborate affair, however Pope Francis lately permitted plans to make the entire process much less complicated.

Earlier pontiffs have been buried in three nested coffins product of cypress, lead and oak. Pope Francis has opted for a easy picket coffin lined with zinc.

He has additionally scrapped the custom of inserting the Pope’s physique on a raised platform – often called a catafalque – in St Peter’s Basilica for public viewing.

As a substitute, mourners shall be invited to pay their respects whereas his physique stays contained in the coffin, with the lid eliminated.

Francis may also be the primary Pope in additional than a century to be buried outdoors the Vatican.

He shall be laid to relaxation within the Basilica of St Mary Main, one among 4 main papal basilicas in Rome.

A basilica is a church which has been granted particular significance and privileges by the Vatican. The main basilicas have a selected connection to the Pope.

The brand new Pope must be chosen by the Catholic Church’s most senior officers, often called the School of Cardinals.

All males, they’re appointed straight by the Pope, and are often ordained bishops.

There are at the moment 252 Catholic cardinals, 138 of whom are eligible to vote for the brand new Pope.

The others are over the age of 80, which suggests they can’t participate within the election, though they’ll be part of within the debate over who needs to be chosen.

When the Pope dies (or resigns, as within the uncommon case of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013), the cardinals are summoned to a gathering on the Vatican, adopted by the conclave, because the election is thought.

Through the time between the Pope’s dying and the election of his successor, the School of Cardinals governs the Church.

The election is held in strict secrecy contained in the Sistine Chapel, famously painted by Michelangelo.

Particular person cardinals vote for his or her most popular candidate till a winner is set, a course of which might take a number of days. In earlier centuries, voting has gone on for weeks or months. Some cardinals have even died throughout conclaves.

The one clue about how the election is continuing is the smoke that emerges twice a day from burning the cardinals’ poll papers. Black indicators failure. The standard white smoke means the brand new Pope has been chosen.

After the white smoke goes up, the brand new Pope usually seems inside an hour on the balcony overlooking St Peter’s Sq..

The senior cardinal collaborating within the conclave will announce the choice with the phrases “Habemus Papam” – Latin for “we have now a Pope”.

He’ll then introduce the brand new Pope by his chosen papal identify, which can or is probably not his authentic given identify.

For instance, Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, however he selected a special identify for his papacy in honour of St Francis of Assisi.

In idea, any Roman Catholic man who has been baptised might be thought of for election to change into Pope.

In observe, nevertheless, the cardinals favor to pick one among their very own.

When the Argentine-born Pope Francis was chosen on the earlier conclave in 2013, he turned the primary pontiff ever to hail from South America, a area that accounts for roughly 28% of the world’s Catholics.

However historic precedent suggests the cardinals are way more more likely to choose a European – and particularly an Italian.

Of the 266 popes chosen so far, 217 have been from Italy.