From the Sistine Chapel to St Peter’s Square, locations in the Vatican where the new pope’s election will play out are part of a priceless cultural heritage.
Here are descriptions of the main spots to watch out for:
– SANTA MARTA GUESTHOUSE –
This building completed in the 1990s just behind St Peter’s Basilica is where most of the cardinal electors will stay during the conclave.
It was home to the late Pope Francis during his papacy.
In centuries past, the cardinals slept in corridors and rooms of the Apostolic Palace itself during the conclave.
Their new lodgings include en-suite bathrooms and hotel-style room service. But there are not enough rooms for all 133 cardinals who will be voting in the conclave.
Cardinals were assigned rooms by drawing lots and some will be housed at Santa Marta Vecchia, a building next door usually used to accommodate Vatican officials.
They began moving in on Tuesday, the eve of the conclave.
Every morning during the conclave, the cardinals will head — either on foot or in minibuses — the short distance to the Sistine Chapel.
– ST PETER’S BASILICA –
Cardinals will celebrate a special mass in St Peter’s Basilica, the church at the heart of Roman Catholicism, before the start of the conclave.
Following the mass, the cardinals will walk in procession to the Sistine Chapel singing the hymn “Veni Creator Spiritus” (“Come Creator Spirit”) in Latin to invoke the Holy Spirit.
The basilica, one of the largest churches in the world, is a jewel of Renaissance architecture and contains the tomb of St Peter — the first pope.
– SISTINE CHAPEL –
Situated inside the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, this 15th-century chapel is world-renowned for its spectacular ceiling frescoes by Michelangelo.
The cardinals will sit on red and gold chairs at long tables covered with beige and burgundy satin tablecloths, a place name set for each of them.
They will write the name of their papal pick under the words “Eligo in Summum Pontificem” — Latin for “I elect as Supreme Pontiff” — on a ballot that they will then fold and place on a silver platter before sliding it into a wooden ballot box set before the altar.
Two special stoves have been installed in the chapel, where the ballots are burnt after voting, producing smoke that signals their progress to the world outside.
Black smoke indicates that no one has secured the two-thirds majority needed to be elected, while white smoke means there is a new pope.
The colour of the smoke is altered using chemicals.
– ST PETER’S SQUARE –
In the 17th century, architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed the famous plaza in front of St Peter’s Basilica, which has a 4,000-year-old Egyptian obelisk at its centre.
Its famous marble colonnades — four columns deep — are arranged in an elliptical form.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather in the square to await the election of the pope.
He will appear to the world for the first time on the main balcony of the basilica, to a cry of “Habemus Papam!” (“We have a pope!”). He will then deliver his first blessing.