Cardinals will meet in a secret conclave to elect the new leader of the Catholic Church starting from May 7, 2025.
A senior Vatican source disclosed to Reuters on Monday, May 28.
Cardinals have been gathering in Vatican City since the late pontiff died on April 21, but few clues have emerged as to who they might elect next.
The date was decided during a closed-door meeting of cardinals at the Vatican, the first since the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday, the source said.
Dozens of “Princes of the Church” from across the world have been gathering at the Vatican since the 88-year-old Argentine pontiff died on April 21.
But so far there are few clues as to who they might choose next.
“I believe that if Francis has been the pope of surprises, this conclave will be too, as it is not at all predictable,” Spanish Cardinal Jose Cobo said in an interview published Sunday.
In previous conclaves, “you can see where things might go”, he said, whereas this time many cardinals hail from beyond Europe and have not even met each other before.
Francis was laid to rest Saturday with a funeral and burial ceremony that drew 400,000 people to St Peter’s Square and beyond, including royalty, world leaders and ordinary pilgrims.
Vast crowds also gathered on Sunday to view his marble tomb in the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome, after the “pope of the poor” opted to be buried outside the Vatican’s walls.
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With conflicts and diplomatic crises raging around the world, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who under Francis was secretary of state – the pope’s number two – is for many the favourite to succeed him.
British bookmakers William Hill put him slightly ahead of Filipino Luis Antonio Tagle, the Metropolitan Archbishop emeritus of Manila, followed by Ghana’s Cardinal Peter Turkson.
Next in their odds comes Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, then Guinea’s Cardinal Robert Sarah, and Matteo Zuppi, the Archbishop of Bologna.
Ricardo Cruz, 44, a data and artificial intelligence specialist who came to see Francis’s tomb on Sunday, said that as a Filipino he hoped the next pope would be from Asia, but as a Catholic he just hoped the cardinals would pick the “right pope”.
Some 80 percent of the cardinal electors were appointed by Francis – though that is no guarantee they will pick a successor in his likeness.
Most are relatively young, and for many it is their first conclave.
The vote, held in the Sistine Chapel with its 16th-century ceiling frescoed by Michelangelo, is highly secretive and follows strict rules and ceremonial procedures.
The process could take several days, or potentially longer.
There are four votes per day – two in the morning and two in the afternoon – until one candidate secures a two-thirds majority.
Fewer than half of those eligible to vote are European.
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