The Vatican will hold a conclave on the afternoon of the 7th at 4:30 PM local time (approximately 10:30 PM Malaysia time) to elect the successor of the late Pope Francis.
It is expected that from around 3 PM that day, all mobile communication signals within the country will be interrupted until a new Pope is chosen, but St. Peter's Square will remain unaffected. If a new Pope is elected, white smoke will emerge from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, otherwise black smoke will be seen.
A Papal candidate needs to secure two-thirds of the vote, at least 89 votes, to be elected.
The Vatican stated that once a new Pope is elected, mobile communication signals will be restored.
All 133 cardinals participating in the conclave have arrived in Rome. The cardinals will first attend a mass at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican before those eligible will gather at the Sistine Chapel for the conclave, where they must leave their mobile phones outside the meeting area.
The papal election may take time. On the first day, only one round of voting will be held, with a maximum of four rounds of voting each day thereafter, twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon. If no one is elected after three days, voting will be paused for up to a day. According to a rule introduced by Benedict XVI, if no one is elected after 33 rounds, there will be a runoff between the top two cardinals.
Current popular candidates for the new Pope include Italian Vatican Secretary of State Parolin, Italian Papal Envoy Zuppi, Archbishop Ambongo of the Archdiocese of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Chinese-Filipino Cardinal Tagle.