REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, VATICAN CITY - Cardinals entered the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday for the conclave to elect the next pope amid deep divisions and uncertainty over who will lead the 1.2 billion-strong Catholic church and tend to its many problems.
Led by prelates holding a crucifix and candles, the 115 scarlet-robed cardinals chanted the Litany of Saints, the hypnotic Gregorian chant imploring the intercession of the saints, as they filed into the chapel adorned with Michelangelo frescoes of "Creation" and "The Last Judgment."
As two Swiss Guards stood at attention outside the heavy wooden doors, the cardinals chanted their oath of secrecy, led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the presiding cardinal. One by one each then came to the center of the chapel and placed his hand on the Gospel to "promise pledge and swear" to keep the oath.
Benedict XVI's surprise resignation has thrown the church into turmoil and exposed deep divisions among cardinals grappling with whether they need a manager to clean up the Vatican's dysfunctional bureaucracy or a pastor who can inspire Catholics at a time of waning faith.
Expecting the first puffs
The cardinals began this process Tuesday afternoon by filing into the frescoed Sistine Chapel. After the doors close, they will hear a meditation by an elderly Maltese cardinal then in all probability cast their first ballots.
Assuming they vote, the first puffs of smoke should emerge from the chapel chimney by 8 pm (1900 GMT) - black for no pope, white if a pope has been chosen.
While few people expect a pontiff to be elected on the first ballot, the Vatican was ready: In the Room of Tears off the Sistine Chapel where the pope goes immediately after his election, three sizes of white cassocks hung from a clothes rack. Underneath, seven white shoe boxes were piled, presumably containing the various sizes of the red leather shoes that popes traditionally wear. The room gets its name from the weight of the job thrust upon the new pontiff.
The papal tailor Gammarelli delivered the clothes on Monday to ensure that the newly elected pope could change immediately into papal white as soon as he accepts the election. With the words "Habemus Papam" — or "We have a pope" — the pontiff then appears on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to greet the crowd for the first time.
Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika