The next pope needs to continue the path set by Pope Francis: Promoting a church that is welcoming, listens to everyone and unifies, some members of the College of Cardinals told reporters April 29.

One by one, placing a right hand on the Book of Gospels, staff driving, cooking, cleaning and caring for the cardinals who will elect a new pope will swear an oath of perpetual secrecy about the election of the 266th successor of St. Peter.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who lost the rights associated with being a cardinal after Pope Francis asked him to resign in 2020, said he would obey the late pope’s wishes and not seek to enter the conclave May 7.

The Vatican may keep the Sistine Chapel under tight security, but out in the streets, piazzas, and even trattorias, the speculation runs wild and everyone is certain they know who’s in pole position.

When the conclave begins May 7, there will be 117 cardinals who will not be allowed into the Sistine Chapel to take part in the voting process that chooses the next pope.

Former President Joe Biden mourned the passing of Pope Francis in an opinion piece for USA Today published April 28, calling for people to honor the late pontiff by “making his legacy a living legacy. A living faith. A faith of caring and compassion — and mercy.”

The Catholic Church and all of humanity want guidance and support in a world filled with toil, doubts and contradictions, said Cardinal Baldassare Reina, papal vicar of Rome.

The world’s cardinals under the age of 80 will gather to elect the successor of Pope Francis, who died April 21 from a stroke and heart failure. The conclave is scheduled to begin May 7.

Ambrogio Piazzoni, then-vice prefect of the Vatican Library and author of a book on the history of papal elections, distributed a sheet of “some curiosities” about the elections to reporters in 2013, after Pope Benedict announced his resignation and before Pope Francis was elected.

Thousands gathered for a massive Mass outside the Metropolitan Cathedral in Buenos Aires to remember the life and legacy of Pope Francis, whose ministry as archbishop in the Argentine capital of taking the church to the peripheries and prioritizing the poor became a template for his pontificate.