Catholic commentator Caroline Farrow has warned that cardinals participating in the papal conclave face "the most severe punishment the Church can impose" if they break their vow of secrecy.The Vatican has taken extraordinary measures to ensure total secrecy, including sweeping the Sistine Chapel for bugs and telecommunications devices.READ THE FULL STORY HERE
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00:00This is one of the most secretive processes in history, isn't it? It's fascinating, the conclave.
00:05Yes, it is. Good morning. It's very exciting. So yes, it is extremely secretive. And in fact,
00:11they've been sweeping the Sistine Chapel, making sure that there's no
00:16bugging, there's no telecommunications devices. All the cardinals who will be in the conclave
00:23are having to take a very solemn oath and vow of secrecy, that they're not going to share
00:30anything that's discussed. And in fact, breaking that vow of secrecy comes with a sentence of
00:38excommunication, which is the most grave penalty that the church can offer. So that's sort of the
00:47first thing that happens when they process in around about four o'clock. Well, I think it'll
00:51be three o'clock UK time. It's four o'clock Vatican time that they'll process in. And then the dean
00:59of the College of Cardinals will say exit omnes, which means everybody out. The doors will be
01:06sealed. I don't know if you know if the word conclave means with key, which is where the term
01:12comes from, the Latin con with clave key. And then they'll begin voting. And the first vote is expected,
01:20as Eamon said, to take place around about four o'clock. So that's, again, bear in mind,
01:25they're an hour ahead. That's three o'clock our time. And we can expect to see the first smoke
01:31at around 5pm this evening. And as you said, it's likely to be black smoke. It's very unlikely that
01:39they'll have unanimity on a candidate this evening. And then voting really begins in earnest tomorrow.
01:45So there'll be four rounds of voting a day. I think it's two in the morning,
01:51two in the afternoon, until we have a candidate.
01:55Is there talk, Caroline? Are you hearing anything about where that candidate is likely to emerge from,
02:03what the conclave is looking for?
02:05It is a very interesting question. And I would always preface that with a caveat.
02:13There's a saying, he who goes into the conclave as a pope comes out as a cardinal.
02:20I mean, we've got some, you know, various runners and riders. And it's difficult to know whether or not
02:29the conclave is going to go for a continuity candidate, you know, someone who very much wants
02:37to follow Pope Francis' footsteps. And there's a number of people like that. Say, for example,
02:44Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who's the Vatican Secretary of State, he was the favourite. He was France's number
02:51two. He was sort of essentially like the Prime Minister of the Holy See. He's very diplomatic.
02:58He's experienced. He's fluent in multiple languages. And he's, you know, the top continuity candidate.
03:04But he might be seen as kind of too institutional or politically cautious. So, yeah, he's one.
03:11Or, you know, there's another front rider emerging who I just think has a lovely name.
03:17I don't know if you've heard of this guy. Cardinal Pierre Battista Pizzabella.
03:23And everyone keeps saying, you know, if he's elected, he should take the papal name John,
03:28because then he'd be like Papa John. And he's been the pizza. Exactly, exactly. And he's been
03:39overseeing. He's been in charge. He's the archbishop, sorry, the cardinal in Jerusalem in
03:44the Holy Land. And he very famously, after October the 8th, offered to trade places. He said,
03:52take me and release the hostages. And he's got to, you know, so that's really enamored him,
03:59you know, to many people, because that was such an act of deep courage and sacrifice.
04:06He's got a deep knowledge of interfaith dialogue, particularly with Jews and Muslims having been
04:11in the Holy Land. So that could be seen as advantageous. And, you know, he's again known
04:18for his deep humility and courage. And he's quite young as well. So if he were elected,
04:25you know, we'd be looking at a long papacy. So it's whether or not the cardinals want to go for
04:32somebody that they know will be the Pope for a very long time, or whether or not they want to go
04:37for someone who's older, who maybe won't be around all that long. Just because Francis was such a
04:44reforming Pope, I think it all rides on whether or not they want to, you know, carry on with that.
04:50Or there's a lot of talk about whether or not they want to go for a more conservative candidate.
04:54Yeah.