How to select a pope – podcast

On Wednesday, 133 cardinals will accumulate within the Sistine Chapel to choose the following pope.

It is named the conclave and it is likely one of the oldest election processes on the earth. For days – most likely even weeks – the cardinals in Rome will vote time and again till one candidate wins a two-thirds majority. Then, and simplest then, will they be named because the successor to Pope Francis.

It is, as Guardian journalist Harriet Sherwood explains, an election wealthy in rite and formality. Yet it will probably get very grimy too: cardinals lobbying in corridors and Vatican gardens; allegations of leaks to the media to discredit competitors; even the emergence of a video of 1 cardinal – a bookies’ favorite to be the following pope – making a song ‘atheist anthem’ Imagine through John Lennon.

As Michael Safi hears, the conclave comes at a in particular delicate time for the Catholic church and the more than a few factions vying for its keep an eye on.

So who will likely be named pope when the well-known white smoke emerges?