After the death of Pope Francis on the morning of Monday, April 21, now the church must begin the lengthy process of finding his successor through a conclave, which would take place in the second week of May.
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The conclave will be attended by almost 140 cardinals of the Catholic Church under 80 years old, and the next pontiff will be chosen from among them.
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Among the main candidates are Hungarian Peter Erdo, German Reinhard Marx, Canadian Marc Ouellet, and Italian Pietro Parolin.
AI has a candidate to be the new pope
But for Artificial Intelligence, the top candidate is another one: the Filipino Luis Antonio Tagle.
He was born in the town of Imus on June 21, 1957, and is currently 67 years old. He is known as “Chito” and “the cardinal of the people”. He is recognized for his work as the Archbishop Emeritus of Manila and currently stands out as the pro-prefect of the Section for the first evangelization and the new particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelization.
The relationship between Tagle and Pope Francis was very close, showing the affinity of beliefs they both had, standing out for their defense of the poor and having a vision of a more open and close Catholic Church to the people, ideals they share in common and would promise to continue with the legacy of the Argentine pope. That is why Tagle has been nicknamed the “Asian Francis.”
How is the conclave held to choose a new pope?
The voting process is secret. Each cardinal writes the name of their candidate on a ballot and deposits it in a special urn. Then, the votes are counted out loud.
In order for a candidate to be elected, they must obtain at least two-thirds of the votes. If no one reaches that amount, the votes are burned with a chemical substance that produces black smoke, indicating that there is still no Pope. Up to four votes are held each day, and if a new pope is not elected, they continue the next day. When the new pope is elected, the ballots are burned with another substance that generates black smoke.
Francisco’s election took just one day.
According to ecclesiastical tradition, the next Conclave will not begin before fifteen days or after twenty days from the date of Pope Francis’ death. This means that the Conclave could start between May 6 and May 11, 2025.