Catholic News Service

The papal prayer service at Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls was dedicated to St. Paul, entrusting "the beginning of this new pontificate to the intercession of the apostle," Pope Leo XIV said.

During a special audience with religious leaders who came to Rome for the inauguration of his papal ministry, Pope Leo XIV vowed to continue working toward Christian unity and promoting dialogue among all religions.

At Mass before the conclave that will elect the next pope, the dean of the College of Cardinals urged his brothers to choose the shepherd the church and all of humanity need "at this difficult and complex and tormented" turning point in history.

As in the past, for a conclave most of the Domus Sanctae Marthae's 131 rooms will be cleared out, and the cardinals will move in. The exception is the block of rooms that were used by Francis and sealed off when he died. That leaves about 125 rooms for 133 people, since Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, said two of the 135 eligible cardinals are too ill to attend the conclave.

The conclave to elect a new pope, scheduled to begin May 7, is governed by two texts: a rule book and a prayer book.

While members of the College of Cardinals famously take an oath, so do Vatican staff members, including the elevator operator, doctors and attendants, who will be assisting with the everyday tasks and needs of the cardinals during the conclave which begins May 7.

The over-80 cardinals can be part of the preconclave meetings called general congregations. Those are daily meetings in which the College of Cardinals has been preparing for the conclave, discussing the needs of the church and handling business that must be attended to between popes.

The cardinals were invited to visit the pope's tomb and pray vespers, which was presided over by Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, coadjutor archpriest of the basilica.

Whether Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who relinquished the rights associated with being a cardinal after he was forced to resign in 2020, will be able to enter the conclave to elect a new pope is an ongoing question.

Pope Francis was a pastor first, "so consistently, so spontaneously and with such deep conviction," that it will remain a gift to the Catholic Church, said Cardinal Michael Czerny.

With his death April 21, Pope Francis marked yet another first in the history of the Catholic Church: he became the first pope to open the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica without living to close it. Among his last gestures as pope, he left the door to the world's largest church wide open.

Pope Francis' funeral rites, like those for any pope or any Christian, are meant to "reinforce the hope and witness to the faith" that those who have been baptized in Christ "will rise with him to new life."

With the death of Pope Francis April 21, the practical aspects of overseeing the day-to-day needs of the church and organizing a papal election fall to U.S. Cardinal Kevin Farrell.

With the death of Pope Francis, the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis, which was scheduled for April 27, has been postponed.

Pope Francis has raised the status of the Vatican's diplomatic academy to an institute of higher learning that will issue academic degrees while also strengthening its focus on evangelization.

Pope Francis has ordered the suppression of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a Peru-based lay movement active across Latin America and the United States, and three related lay movements following decades of abuse allegations and internal investigations.