Go out with tourists. Enter the cardinals.
The Vatican closed the Sistine Chapel, where the cardinals will gather to the conclave the next Pope after Pope Francis’ death on April 21 at the age of 88.
Francis was buried on Saturday after the funeral on St. Peter’s Square, which gathered world leaders and hundreds of thousands of others, and the nine -day mourning continues before the conclave could begin.
But the church simultaneously draws attention to the following steps.
The key prepares the Sistine chapel to the red-translated cardinals, which will gather in the Vatican in the heart of Rome to select the next Pope in the ancient process fictitious in the 2024 movie “Conclave”.
One of the key tasks is to install a chimney where the ballots will be burned after the vote.
Those visitors who managed to enter Sunday have considered themselves happy because it has not been reported how long the conclave would continue, and how long the Vatican museum gem will be left without restriction.
“I think we were very lucky that you were able to become the last group of visitors today,” said Sumon Khan, a US tourist. “You know, our trip would not be complete without seeing this beautiful place.”
According to the schedule defined by church law, the conclave can only begin after the nine -day mourning period. It is expected to begin between May 5 to May 10.
If it is, the cardinals will join the secret process, which is supposed to be guided by the Holy Spirit, which will lead to the choice of the next leader of the Catholic Church 1.4 billion. The choice determine whether the next pontiff will continue the reforms of Francis, with a focus on poor and marginalized, as well as the environment, or they choose the Pontiff closer in the style of conservative predecessors such as the benedict XVI, oriented on doctrine.
For inspiration, the cardinals will also have great beauty of the frescoes painted by Michelangelo and other famous revival artists. The most recognizable is the creation of Adam Michelangelo, which shows the elongated hand that gives the Divine spark of life to the first man.
The chapel is named after Pope Sheita IV, art, who oversaw the construction of the main papal chapel in the 15th century. But it was the late Pontiff, Pope Julius II, who ordered Michelangelo’s works, who painted the ceiling, reflecting the scenes from being from 1508 and 1512, and then returned to draw the last trial on one of the walls.
When the conclave opens, the cardinals will chant the litany of the saints, solemn, mystical Gregorian singing that calls for the patronage of the saints when they fall into the chapel and swear the mysteries. The thick double doors of the chapel will close, and the master of the liturgy will utter the Latin words “extra omnes”, which means “everything”.
A secret process is part of a tradition aimed at maintaining voting from external intervention.
Then the world will wait for the sign that the successor of Francis was chosen. The black smoke coming from the chimney in the Sistine chapel will indicate that they have not reached two -thirds of the majority for the new pope.
But when the dad is finally elected, white smoke will rise and the bells will pay.
