First votes to elect pope Tuesday

Posted at: 03/12/2013 8:59 AM
By: Traci Potts

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VATICAN CITY - Tuesday 115 of the world's top Catholic leaders will take their first secret vote to elect a new pope.

Tuesday morning's mass sets the spiritual stage. The conclave -- the first votes -- begin Tuesday night

"It was remarkably enriching and uplifting,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said in his daily radio message. “But I'm kind of happy they're over because we came here to elect a Pope."

Anxious to get started, 115 electors will walk single file into the Sistine Chapel in reverse order of seniority

The Vatican seems confident this won't take long:

But not everyone's so sure it'll be that easy for one person to get 77 votes

Who will wear the robes and shoes? Cardinal Scola, an Italian or Cardinal Scherer from Brazil?

Forty percent of the world's Catholics are from Latin America.

We could even see an American pope. U.S. students studying in Rome tell us they'll be watching for that white smoke, the sign that the Catholic Church has a new leader.

 

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