THE conclave is set to gather to choose the next pope in an ancient and secret process that has remained unchanged for 1,000 years.

Cardinals from around the globe are arriving at the Vatican in anticipation of the historic event, fueling speculation about who will become the next pontiff.

The ritual of electing a new pope is set to begin on Wednesday, following the end of the mourning period for the late Pope Francis.

And preparations for the event are already underway as cardinals and visitors arrive in the holy city.

The democratic process sees multiple rounds of voting by cardinals under the age of 80 who make up the conclave.

This continues until a clear successor is chosen by consensus.

For a pope to be elected they must get two-thirds of the vote – and each cardinal’s vote has equal value.

All cardinals across the world are called to Rome for the conclave, with 133 out of the current 252 set to attend.

While the official criteria for pontiff candidates only require them to be Catholic and male, historically, they have always been chosen from those who have achieved the rank of cardinal.

Since 1492, the Papal Conclave has taken place in the Sistine Chapel where they were traditionally locked-in until a decision was made.

Now, it takes place in the Domus Sanctae Marthae adjacent to St Peter’s Basilica but all votes are still cast inside the Sistine Chapel.

The cardinals all stay together in the Domus Sanctae Marthae – a five-story 130-room guest house built by Pope John Paul II.

Every morning at around 9am, the cardinals will walk the 500 metres around St Peter’s Basilica to the Sistine Chapel to vote.

The grand guest house accommodated the previous two conclaves, which involved 115 cardinals, but this year, with 133 electors, it faces a minor shortage of rooms.

To ensure absolute secrecy, all radios, televisions and telephones have been removed from the building and the Wi-Fi blocked.

The locked-in tradition which gives the Conclave its name which in Latin means “with key” dates back to 1268.

Voting and smoke signals

Before the voting can begin the cardinals must solemnly pledge to keep the secrets of the conclave.

All cardinals involved in the election must also agree that, if elected, they will commit faithfully to the duties of the role.

But the cardinals aren’t the only ones to take an oath.

Everyone involved in the conclave, from bishops and priests to doctors, drivers and cleaners, must be sworn to secrecy.

Once everyone has been sworn to secrecy the master of papal liturgical celebrations will order everyone not taking part in the conclave to leave the chapel, with only the master and one other ecclesiastic remaining.

The ecclesiastic will then lecture the cardinals about problems facing the Church and the grave responsibility of their task.

When this is complete, the pair will depart – leaving the cardinals in complete isolation.

It is only now that the conclave truly begins.

Each cardinal will write the name of their choice on a piece of paper in disguised handwriting.

This is folded in half and placed in an urn at the altar one by one where they are mixed, opened and counted by three cardinals who are selected an random to be Scrutineers.

The third scrutineer sews up the counted votes which are then burned.

This voting process continues until a clear decision is made with cardinals in the past being allowed just one meal a day in a bid to speed up the process if it went on for more than three days.

After another five days of no decision, the cardinals were given just bread and water.

A relatively new rule states that after 12 days of voting, a candidate can win with a 50 per cent plus one vote majority.

Ballots are held twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon and they are all burned in the stove at the Sistine Chapel with black smoke emerging to show that a decision has not yet been made.

This smoke is now made with the help of chemicals after some confusion was seen in previous years where it took time to turn black.

The signal that a new pope has been elected is when white smoke or fumata bianca emerges from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel along with the ringing of bell.

It is not clear when this ritual began but it has been consistently used to declare a new pope since at least 1878.

To keep the vote secret the Sistine Chapel will be swept for hidden cameras, recording equipment and bugs.

Mobile phones are banned and signal jammers have been installed to help stop any information being leaked.

The windows will also be covered to keep the outside world out and to stop drones from spying.

New pope is declared

Once a decision has been reached the elected pontiff is then asked by the Cardinal Dean if they accept the position and they then state the name that they will take upon becoming the pope.

This is usually inspired by a saint or previous pope that they wish to honour.

The new pontiff then enters the Room of Tears inside the Sistine Chapel where they are said to be so overwhelmed with emotion they cry – hence the name.

They then dress and prepare to greet the world on the balcony on St Peter’s Basilica overlooking 100,000 people on St Peter’s Square.

Robes of multiple sizes are prepared in advance by papal tailors Gammarelli.

The three sets of vestments in sizes small, medium, and large include a white cassock, a white silk sash, a white zucchetto (skullcap), red leather shoes and a red velvet mozzetta or capelet with ermine trim.

The Pope will dress alone, wearing a gold-corded pectoral cross and a red embroidered stole before emerging onto the balcony.

The Cardinal Dean first appears to declare “Habeumus Papum” saying: “I announce with great joy, we have a new Pope.”

The new pope then emerges onto the balcony to give their first blessing known as the Urbi et Orbi “To the City and the World”.

Who will be the next pope?

There has been much speculation as to who will be the next pope.

UK theologian Professor Anna Rowlands said it is difficult to say because the make-up of this College of Cardinals is “very different from anyone that’s been here to elect a pope before”.

But there are a number of front-runners including Cardinal Luis Tagle – a 67-year-old from the Philippines – who was said to be Francis’s pick for the first Asian pope.

Other favourites include Cardinal Peter Erdo, 72, the Archbishop of Budapest, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, 71, the Archbishop of Munich and Freising and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, 70, an Italian who has served as Pope Francis’s secretary of state since 2014.

The conclave was initiated after the death of Pope Francis at 88 on the morning of Easter Monday, following a battle with pneumonia.

Pope Francis was anointed in 2013 when he took over from Pope Benedict XVI who stepped back from the role due to ill health in an incredibly rare move.