Cardinals Prepare to Be Sequestered
‘Cardinals had a few last hours to confer with aides or pray with faithful before required check-in at a top-security hotel in Vatican City on Sunday, a day before they will be sequestered in secret sessions in the Sistine Chapel to elect the next pope.
Many Vatican observers expect the conclave to likely last two or three days after voting begins either Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning, but the ritual-filled election process to choose Pope John Paul II’s successor can last many more days or even longer.
Rank-and-file Catholics were invited to join the cardinals on Monday morning in one final public ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica, following the end on Saturday of a series of Masses to mourn John Paul, who died on April 2.
Late Monday afternoon, the cardinals will gather in the Apostolic Palace for a procession to the Sistine Chapel for a first session. The cardinals will hear a prayer in Latin, by the dean of the College of Cardinals, German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, that they be guided “in our hearts in love and in patience.”‘
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