Novels and films that include or revolve around a conclave often include nefarious plotting, or at least politicking, and attempts to wing it when it comes to the rules for electing a new pope.
But “those rules are set in stone,” Kurt Martens, a professor of canon law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, told Catholic News Service 12 March, while at the Vatican to do research.
If something in the rules is unclear, the cardinals can seek to clarify it, “but that hasn’t happened” since St John Paul II issued his rules for the conclave in the 1996 apostolic constitution, “Universi Dominici Gregis,” Martens said.
The document was slightly revised by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007 and again just before he resigned in 2013.
The rules specify that the cardinals should wait at least 15 days after the death or resignation of the pope to begin the conclave, but they should wait no more than 20 days.
A date for the conclave had not been announced as of 24 April. Only cardinals under the age of 80 when a pope dies or resigns are eligible to enter the Sistine Chapel to elect his successor.
But with 135 potential cardinal electors, who have gathered as a group only when the latest were created in December, it cannot be said that they know each other well.