The Vatican

Cardinals to reconvene tomorrow for further ballots

Even at this late stage, it remains unclear who is most likely to become the Catholic Church’s next leader

As the conclave to choose the next pope begins, our readers share their views

Inside Politics podcast with Hugh Linehan

Ballots of 133 voting cardinals burned after each vote with black smoke signalling no agreement

The saying that ‘he who e’ters a conclave as pope exits as a cardinal” augurs badly for frontrunners

Odds are on a short conclave to elect Pope Francis’s successor, with 267th pope likely to be picked by Thursday or Friday

Cardinals with strong links to Ireland will be playing key role in the papal conclave from Wednesday

We will not make the necessary climate leap if divisions continue - between rite and reason, left and right, rural and urban or young and old

‘There is nothing funny or clever about this, Mr President. Do not mock us,’ say Catholic leaders

Cardinals have held their ninth in a series of near-daily meetings over next pontiff

Chimney will be used by the conclave that will elect the successor of Pope Francis

We love to plonk a dead relative in the sittingroom for a day or two

We are at a very strange moment in our cultural evolution – one that threatens the very possibility of spiritual experience

Resignation followed allegations he failed to deal adequately with child sexual abuse claims

Likely issues include finances, sliding church attendance and growing hole in the pension fund

Conclave start date decided during closed-door meeting of cardinals at the Vatican

Where LGBTQ+ rights are bolstered, so too are women’s rights, and where they collapse, so too does authentic feminism

Some 200,000 participate in second Mass following Francis’s death

President says absence of some leaders at pope’s funeral is ‘very significant’

Mass mirrored most Catholic funerals, albeit with hundreds of cardinals and dignitaries present

Catholic Church begins nine days of official mourning

On one side stand the conservatives. On the other are the reformers. And in the centre are those who want an end to the polarisation

Like many unwritten masterpieces, the book was born and died in a Dublin pub

In Europe, after centuries of dominance, Christianity appears to be in retreat

Michael D Higgins, Micheál Martin, Ursula von der Leyen, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and Donald Trump among attendees

Bishop Paul Tighe, one of the most senior Irishmen in the Roman Curia, says pontiff’s legacy is ‘in the hearts of people'

Cardinal Kevin Farrell’s former neighbours recall the Drimnagh man who is running the Vatican following the death of Pope Francis

Inside Politics podcast with Hugh Linehan

The men-only club will be out in force. Even Francis ‘the reformer’ could not assail that bastion

St Peter’s Basilica is open 24/7 to accommodate the crowds gathering to pay their respects to the late pontiff

People kneel briefly to say hasty prayers before being ushered along to make way for more

Pope met eight Irish survivors of clerical abuse when he visited Ireland in August 2018

Pontiff’s death has deprived the world of a persistent advocate for the downtrodden

All quiet as thousands file past pope’s remains, paying final tribute

World leaders to gather in Rome on Saturday but arrangements at home are more muted

In the News looks at contenders for Vatican’s top job and how the conclave will select Pope Francis’s successor

The myth machine applauds the synodal pontiff, the one who has given jobs to women, who does not judge homosexuals, who protects victims of clerical abuse. But these are illusions

College comprises 252 members, 135 of whom are aged under 80 and so eligible to vote in a conclave

Pontiff to lie in state at St Peter’s Basilica for next three days, where thousands of Catholics expected to pay respects