A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The conclave to choose the next leader for the world's 1.4 billion Roman Catholics starts in just over a week, Wednesday, May 7, in fact. Joining us from Rome to talk about how it's all going to work is NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. Jason, all right, so what happens next Wednesday?
JASON DEROSE, BYLINE: Well, all the cardinals at the Vatican gather at St. Peter's Basilica for a morning mass and then make their way to the Sistine Chapel. They hear sermons, they pray, they take oaths. And eventually, anyone who isn't an elector is told to leave. The chapel is locked, and the cardinals begin voting. There are multiple ballots each day, and when somebody gets a two-thirds majority, there's a new pope.
You know, A, it's really not like the movie "Conclave," where there appears to be a crack research staff investigating every twist and turn. Not at all. One of the big problems with the film is that there is a lot of outside information coming in and going out of the conclave that's influencing the vote. And that is really not what happens. In fact, the floor being installed in the Sistine Chapel right now has special cellphone blocking technology to keep inside information in and outside information out.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. I've been wondering about that. I'm sure others have been wondering, too. OK, thanks for clearing that up. So who are these cardinals?
DEROSE: This is the most diverse group of cardinals ever to enter a conclave. About 70 total countries represented, many more from the Americas, from Africa and Asia since the last time a conclave met. The largest bloc is from Europe, as it has been for centuries, but a significant portion now come from Asia, and there are some firsts - the first cardinal from Haiti, Rwanda and Laos now each have cardinals in the conclave for the first time.
Pope Francis really expanded the size of the College of Cardinals and dramatically diversified it with well over a hundred appointments.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. How long could all this take?
DEROSE: Well, it's over once someone gets two-thirds of the vote. Now, most modern conclaves have taken a few days. During the medieval period, some papal elections went on for years. And as nice as it would be, A, to stay here in Rome, covering a yearslong conclave, the Catholic Church has since changed some of the rules to move this along. One of the reasons they're sequestered in the Sistine Chapel is to focus their work and make sure they aren't influenced by outsiders.
MARTÍNEZ: So what do we know about the issues on the minds of the cardinals as they head into the conclave?
DEROSE: Well, since Francis' death, cardinals have been gathering at the Vatican, and all this week into next, they're participating in these meetings called congregations. The Vatican press office has put out some statements about the topics they're discussing, among them, the challenges of relating to the contemporary world, the Catholic Church's relationship with other religious traditions, the need for evangelization, which means spreading Christianity, and the ongoing issue of sexual abuse, and what qualities the next pope will need in order to respond to all these challenges. Now, A, these meetings are really important. In 2013, the cardinal from Argentina gave a speech at one of these congregations that turned a lot of heads. A few days later, that man took the name Pope Francis.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. All sounds very exciting. That's NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose in Rome. Jason, thank you.
DEROSE: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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