Cardinals have set May 7 as the start date for the conclave to elect a new pope, a Vatican source told CNN.
The Roman Catholic Church is now preparing to choose a successor to Pope Francis, who led the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics for more than a decade.
Pope Francis, 88, died on Easter Monday from a stroke and heart failure. In accordance with his wishes, he was laid to rest on Saturday in a modest tomb inside the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, following a solemn funeral Mass attended by heads of state, royalty, clergy, and over 250,000 mourners.
On Sunday, cardinals and pilgrims visited the marble tomb, marked simply with the inscription “Franciscus,” to pay their respects to the beloved pontiff.
The College of Cardinals convened Monday for the first general congregation — one of a series of daily meetings to discuss pressing issues facing the Church and to finalize preparations for the conclave.
The conclave is a centuries-old tradition in which cardinals gather in strict secrecy in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope. Only cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote; currently, 135 cardinals meet that requirement.
During the conclave, cardinals cast ballots in a series of voting rounds, sometimes lasting several days as two-thirds majority is required to elect a new pope.
Smoke signals from the Sistine Chapel announce the outcome of each vote: black smoke indicates no decision, while white smoke heralds the election of a new pontiff.