The conclave to elect the pope will begin on May 7.

RomeA week after the death of Pope Francis, the cardinals gathered in the new synod hall at the Vatican have announced the start date of the conclave that will name the successor. On May 7, the voting cardinals will close themselves off in the Sistine Chapel to isolate themselves from the world and elect the next leader of the Catholic Church.

On the morning of May 7, before the first smoke which will follow in the first ballot, all the cardinals will gather in St. Peter's Basilica to celebrate Mass pro elidendo Roman pontiff, which will be presided over by the Dean of the College of Cardinals, the Italian Giovanni Batt. In the afternoon, they will proceed to the Sistine Chapel in procession singing the Veni Creator Spiritus, the hymn with which they invoke the Holy Spirit. Once inside, everyone will simultaneously pronounce an oath in Latin. And after theExtra omnes! (everyone out) of rigor, the door will close to officially begin the conclave, which will be presided over by the Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, one of the favorites to succeed Francis.

The date of the conclave has been decided by the members of the college of cardinals who are already in Rome and who met this Monday for almost four hours in the fifth congregation of cardinals, the daily assemblies where the cardinals agree on the immediate steps after the death of the pontiff, issues concerning the future of the Church. All the cardinals present in the Vatican will speak, not only those who will be able to vote because they are under 80 years old, who on this occasion will be 133 instead of the 135 that make up the current college of cardinals, because Two cardinals have withdrawn from participating due to health problems.

With the funeral of Pope Francis, who was seen off by nearly half a million people in Rome on Saturday, he preconclave enters its most decisive phase. Vatican Press Office spokesperson Matteo Bruni confirmed that at Monday's meeting, attended by around 180 cardinals, including 110 electors, there were some 20 interventions addressing topics of relevance to the future of the Church, which has become a religion, and the issue of sexual abuse. The cardinals are also beginning to outline the qualities that the spiritual leader of 1.4 billion Catholics will have to respond effectively to these challenges.

The Becciu mystery

But beyond the future of the institution and the resume of its highest authority, the assembly is monopolized these days by the decision the cardinals will have to make regarding the entry into the Sistine Chapel of Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who once served as the second-in-command at the Secretariat of State. A brilliant diplomatic career in the Vatican Curia was cut short after he was convicted of corruption and abuse of power in a historic ruling that the cardinal, who has always maintained his innocence, appealed.

The then influential cardinal was also one of the people closest to Pope Francis, and his name was even mentioned as a possible successor. Everything collapsed when, in 2019, Vatican prosecutors opened an investigation to clarify irregular financial transactions with the funds of the Òbol di Sant Pere and the Secretariat of State managed by Becciu, which caused a €400 million hole in the Holy See's balance sheet.

This exorbitant sum, according to the Vatican justice system, was allegedly used to buy a property in London for three times its initial value, to divert funds to an NGO run by the cardinal's brother, and to create a sort of parallel diplomatic network headed by a gastronomy of more than a million sodas and honey gasoline.

Before the trial began, Francis forced Becciu to resign and renounce his cardinal rights, but he insists he retains his prerogatives, including the right to vote in a future conclave. The problem is that the late pope did not follow official protocol—something very common with Jorge Mario Bergoglio—and until now, no document existed to certify the pontiff's decision.

However, last week the Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, who was his former boss, unexpectedly presented two letters supposedly written by Francis (they are signed with a F) before his last hospitalization in February, in which he expressly forbade Becciu from entering the conclave. Now it will be the cardinals themselves who will have to decide the Italian prelate's future. Dan Brown certainly couldn't have done better.