MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The conclave to elect the next leader of the world's 1.4 billion Roman Catholics is set to begin in a little more than a week - next Wednesday. That is when eligible cardinals - so those under the age of 80 - will sequester themselves in the Sistine Chapel for prayer and conversation and debate and balloting. Joining me from Rome to discuss the process of selecting a new pope is NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. Hey there.
JASON DEROSE, BYLINE: Hello.
KELLY: Hi. So start with the who. What should we know about these cardinals who are going to be in the chapel and charged with choosing the next pope?
DEROSE: Well, the Vatican says there are currently 135 eligible electors, about 70 total countries represented there, according to the Vatican - more from the Americas, Africa and Asia than ever before. In fact, Haiti, Rwanda, and Laos now have their first-ever cardinals going into conclave.
KELLY: And talk me through the work. How is this process actually going to unfold?
DEROSE: So on the morning of May 7, the cardinal electors in Vatican City will gather in St. Peter's Basilica for a mass. They'll then process into the Sistine Chapel, singing the Litany of the Saints. Now, that's a litany people also heard if they listened to Francis' funeral on Saturday. Then there are prayers and oaths. The cardinals hear two sermons that day. They're sealed into the Sistine Chapel, under those Michelangelo frescoes, and the secret balloting begins.
KELLY: That sounds so lovely. I would like to be sealed into the Sistine Chapel beneath some Michelangelo frescoes. How long are they going to be there?
DEROSE: Well, voting goes on until somebody gets two-thirds majority vote. Now, it could go pretty quickly. The conclave that elected Francis lasted just over a day. But, Mary Louise, the longest papal election process, which wasn't technically called a conclave yet then, lasted nearly three years - so long, some of the cardinals actually died. But that was in the 13th century. So lots of rules and procedures have been put into place since then, including locking the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel and that adjoining guest house to help speed things along. So realistically, we're looking at a couple of days.
KELLY: A couple of days - OK. And so, again, the cardinals are cloistered. The ballots are entirely secret. We're not going to know what they're talking about, what they are considering as they vote. Are you, through your reporting, starting to see some themes emerging before this conclave begins?
DEROSE: I'd say there's this idea of unity or diversity. Unity, meaning, essentially, a conservative view that doesn't allow for a variety of voices on various issues. And then there's diversity, meaning the Catholic Church could bear and maybe even thrive with a variety of views on various topics. That's the more progressive understanding. Now, I don't think it's ever a good idea to predict who might win a papal election, but I will say there are some prominent cardinals that represent these ideas.
For instance, Cardinal Peter Erdo from Hungary represents that unity camp. And then you have someone like Luis Antonio Tagle from the Philippines, who is charismatic and represents that diversity camp. And the whole conclave, Mary Louise, will be overseen by Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the most senior elector, who served as Pope Francis' Vatican secretary of state. And I'd say he represents the moderates working to balance that unity and that diversity.
KELLY: NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose tracking all of this from Rome. Thank you, Jason.
DEROSE: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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