by Pam Hackenmiller
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The question's been floating around since Feb. 11: Who will be chosen to be the next pope after Pope Benedict XVI steps down Feb. 28?
There's no set date for the conclave yet, but there are lists all across the Internet of papabili, and everyone's talking about who might be the cardinal who gets chosen.
Because of this, we've assembled our own conclave: the conclave of the People of God. We'll start with the 117 cardinals eligible to vote in the conclave, then next Monday, we'll take the 25 cardinals with the most votes and vote again, then the top 10, and so on until we're down to the one cardinal you, the readers, think will be chosen to be pope.
We recognize that technically, any unmarried baptized Catholic man is eligible to become pope, but since that is unlikely, we are only offering cardinals under the age of 80 (those who will be voting in the conclave) as the candidates.
Remember, this is a vote about who you think will be voted to become the next pope, not the person you would like to see become the next pope.
Need a refresher? Find biographies for every cardinal who will take part in the conclave here.
Voting will close Friday at 6 p.m. Eastern.
