Keeping You Abreast – What’s the story with the job interviews for the new Pope?

Awl Joseph Ratzinger has been out of a job for sometime now, but who's going to fill the now empty red papal slippers and when is the secret vote going to happen? JOE is here to keep you abreast.

It’s been a week since Pope emeritus of the Catholic Church, Benedict XVI, left his fancy mansion in The Vatican, and cardinals from all over the world are now gathering to discuss who should be the next Pope.

Now, cardinal-electors, who are those aged under 80 and who are eligible to vote for the new pontiff, will decide who’s going to be wearing the big pointy hat next, while cardinals over 80 are really just there for a chin wag and to throw their two cents in.

The real decision will be made at the conclave, a secret vote held by the cardinals in a locked room with a chimney. Their decision is usually announced by smoke coming from said chimney and it’s usually the only exciting bit of the whole process.

The cardinals have been gathering in The Vatican since Monday but the last cardinal to get there, Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man of Vietnam, was only due to arrive in on Thursday. Talk about fashionably late…

Late for the party

There’s no word yet of when exactly the conclave will be held – all the cardinals have to get there first – but according to CNN, the past 11 conclaves have lasted no longer than four days, so it shouldn’t be too long after the cardinals are locked in their secret voting room before we hear who’s the new pope.

Interestingly, you don’t have to be a cardinal to be voted in as pope; you only have to be a catholic male to be crowned His Holiness, so our money is on Bono.

In association with Supermacs, the home of the chicken breast sandwich.