Along with members of the College of Cardinals, women and men belonging to religious orders paid tribute to Pope Francis, a Jesuit, and thanked God for his life and ministry.

As the College of Cardinals gathers for general congregations ahead of the upcoming conclave, Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chávez of El Salvador described a calm and fraternal atmosphere among the group — one marked not by tension, but by prayer and unity of purpose.

In preparation for the conclave, workers placed a protective covering over the marble mosaic floors and started carrying in pipes, couplers and sheets of subflooring.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state since early in the pontificate of Pope Francis, has long been near the top of pundits’ lists of potential successors to the Argentine pope.

Good-natured, affable and dedicated to dialogue, French Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille coordinates a churchwide network in the Mediterranean region, a mission he received from Pope Francis.

All but four of the 135 cardinals who are eligible to enter the conclave May 7 to vote for a new pope had arrived in Rome by May 2, according to the Vatican press office.

The extensive role of the cardinals in today’s papal elections and in the church can be traced to the 11th century and Pope Nicholas II.

As the College of Cardinals gathers in Rome for the conclave that will elect our next pope, the rest of us may feel like we have no real role to play in the process.

French Cardinal Christophe Pierre, 79, has worked the past 48 years in the Vatican’s diplomatic service, most recently as papal nuncio to the United States for the past nine years.

Although not a familiar name in the U.S. press, Hungarian Cardinal Péter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest, 72, is a major figure among his peers in Europe, the church’s traditional heartland and the region of about 38.5% of the cardinal electors.