Conclave date to be announced after 7 pm local time

Vatican City, Mar 8, 2013 / 05:40 am

 

The day when the cardinals begin to vote for the next Pope will be announced after 7:00 p.m. local time.

"The result of the voting of when the conclave will take place will be announced after the cardinals' afternoon meeting at 7:00 p.m.," said the Holy See's press office director, Father Federico Lombardi.

"The conclave will not be tomorrow or Sunday, but it could be sometime early next week," said Fr. Lombardi.

He added that the cardinals will meet in a session tomorrow morning, but not in the afternoon. On Sunday, many of the cardinals will celebrate Mass in their titular churches.

The last cardinal who will take part in the preliminary meetings and the conclave arrived in Rome on the afternoon of March 7. The group is now complete and can agree on the date of the conclave.

There were 151 cardinals present in yesterday afternoon's preliminary session and the two newly arrived cardinals took the oath in this morning's gathering.  

The cardinals spoke about interreligious dialogue, bioethics, justice in the world, a positive proclamation of love and justice, and on collegiality among the world bishops. 

Cardinals spoke this morning about the 'Adopt a cardinal' online initiative to pray so each cardinal makes the right vote. Over 220,000 people have adopted one so far.

They also covered the role of women in the Church.

Over 100 cardinals have spoken so far in the preliminary meetings, which began on March 4 and there were 18 interventions this morning.

There will also be confessors available for the cardinals during the conclave, who are like them under oath.