The conclave is set to begin May 7, but the public only knows its end by iconic white smoke billowing out of the Sistine Chapel’s chimney.

Only through loving others and accepting love in spite of one’s own failures can Christians truly understand and proclaim the joy of Christ’s victory over death, said French Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille.

Le Figaro had described Cardinal Arborelius as “first and foremost a man of prayer but also a noted theologian, committed to ecumenism.” It also said his leadership of a church in “a highly secularized country where Catholicism is in the minority” is an advantage.

While the liturgical legacy of Pope Francis, who died April 21 at age 88, may have flown under the radar for many, several experts told OSV News his 12-year papacy made a definite impact.

On the final day of official mourning for the death of Pope Francis, the late pontiff was remembered as someone who was determined to live out the mission entrusted to him and serve others, even when his health deteriorated.

An AI-generated image of U.S. President Donald Trump dressed as the pope “was not good,” Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York said in Rome.

Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes of Mexico City is admired as a pastor and biblical scholar and was a key ally of Pope Francis in implementing the Synod of Bishops on synodality — a central component of his pontificate — all of which place the Mexican cardinal high on the list of potential successors to the first Latin American pope.

Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, the Chicago-born prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under Pope Francis, is the U.S. cardinal most often mentioned as a potential successor of St. Peter, but almost always with the caveat that he has an “outside” chance.

As a 79-year-old member of Pope Francis’ team of cardinal advisers, a European with missionary experience in Africa and archbishop of a city with more than 2 million baptized Catholics, Cardinal Juan José Omella Omella is well-positioned to draw votes from the pope’s allies in the coming conclave.

Pope Francis issued regular appeals for prayers for Myanmar — a nation embroiled in a political and humanitarian crisis since a military coup plunged the crisis into civil war in February 2021 — and the cardinal leading the country’s approximately 700,000 Catholics often is mentioned as a possible successor to the pope.