VATICAN CITY – Cardinals began Wednesday what is expected to be a lengthy conclave cloistered in the Sistine Chapel to choose the next pope to lead the Roman Catholic Church from among a constellation of possible papabili seen as front runners from Italy, France, Spain, the United States and elsewhere.

 After what for some was a last chance for a slap-up lunch washed down with wine in a Rome trattoria before some days of simple fare in the Santa Marta guest house where they will lodge during the secretive election, the 133 cardinal electors from 70 ountries entered the Sistine Chapel at 4:30 p.m. and took the oath separately beofre the doors of the chapel were closed to outsiders and the media for a first vote, the result of which was expected to be signalled to the world by smoke from a specially erected chimney above the chapel roof at around 7:30 p.m. Earlier the cardinals had handed in their mobile phones and the Vatican phone signal was turned off to prevent any external interference in the proceedings.

 The conclave was called after Pope Francis died at age 88 from a stroke and heart failure on Easter Monday, leaving his tiny city state without an absolute monarch.

 The cardinals began the day by attending a special Mass in St Peter’s Basilica presided over by the dean of the princes of the church, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, who set out a kind of road map for the conclave in his homily.

 “We are here to invoke the help of the Holy Spirit, to implore his light and strength so that the Pope elected may be he whom the Church and humanity need at this difficult and complex turning point in history,” Cardinal Re said.

 “To pray by invoking the Holy Spirit, is the only right and proper attitude to take as the Cardinal electors prepare to undertake an act of the highest human and ecclesial responsibility and to make a choice of exceptional importance.”

 “This is a human act for which every personal consideration must be set aside, keeping in mind and heart only the God of Jesus Christ and the good of the Church and of humanity,” Cardinal Re added.

 Let us pray, then, that the Holy Spirit, who in the last hundred years has given us a series of truly holy and great Pontiffs, will give us a new Pope according to God’s heart for the good of the

Church and of humanity.”

 Vatican watchers said that no cardinal was expected to achieve the required 89 votes, a two thirds majority, for election in the preliminary vote which is seen usually as a first indicator of how much support some leading candidates may be able to muster pointing the way to who may gather momentum of support in subsequent votes from Thursay.

 Leading the favourites identified by pundits as most likely to be voted to St. Peter’s throne were Pietro Parolin, 70, the Italian former secretary of state, and his countryman the Franciscan Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, 60. Parolin was expected to must some 40 ballots in the first vote but is seen by some observers as lacking in pastoral experience having spent most of his career as a Vatican diplomat while Pizzaballa has spent most of his working life in the Middle East helping the embattled Christian communities in Gaza and elsewhere to survive.

 Also considered front runners for whom the first vote was expected to be a litmus test were Spanish Cardinal Cristobal Lopez Romero, the Salesian archbishop of Rabat, the American Cardinal Robert Prevost and Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, 66, the archbishop of Marseille respected for his knowledge of the Mediterranean and considered a prelate likely to follow closely the progressive legacy of Pope Francis though handicapped by questions about his grasp of the Italian language.

 Should none of the five purported front runners succeed in garnering support approaching the required 89 votes a second line of papabili has been identified by the respected Messaggero Vatican reporter Franca Giansoldati as consisting of Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, 66, the archbishop of Bologna, a man who began his vocation as a street priest working with the poor and went on to be a leading light in the Sant’Egidio community working with the poor in Italy and mediating in conflict areas around the world.

 Also in the second division are Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erdo,72, seen as a conservative kingmaker in the conclave as well as a credible papal candidate, Filipino Cardinal Tagle, and Cardinal Fridolin Ambongom archbishop of Kinshasha, who would be the first African pope if elected, as well as Spanish cardinal Angel Fernandez Artime, a close personal friend of Francis.

 After stressing the need for a pope who will foster unity in the Church, the dean ended his homily by sayin“let us pray that God will grant the Church a Pope who knows how best to awaken the

consciences of all and the moral and spiritual energies in today’s society, characterised by great technological progress but which tends to forget God“

 "Today’s world expects much from the Church regarding the safeguarding of those fundamental human and spiritual values without which human coexistence will not be better nor bring good to future generations.”

 “May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, intercede with her maternal intercession,o that the Holy Spirit will enlighten the minds of the Cardinal electors and help them agree on the

Pope that our time needs.”

 jp