Conclave

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who lost the rights associated with being a cardinal after Pope Francis asked him to resign in 2020, said he would obey the late pope's wishes and not seek to enter the conclave May 7.

The conclave that begins May 7 is expected to be the largest in history, with a wide geographical mix of cardinal-electors.

At the conclusion of the official days of mourning following the death of Pope Francis on April 21, 135 cardinal electors are eligible to enter pre-conclave gatherings.

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.

Anyone interested in Catholic Church can now see a detailed, interactive breakdown of the body that will elect the next pope.

A serious, even lugubrious, tone and a top-flight cast add heft to the ecclesiastical melodrama Conclave (Focus). Yet the film is fundamentally a power-struggle potboiler kept roiling by attention-grabbing plot developments — the last and most significant of which Catholic viewers will likely find uncomfortable at best, and which has already drawn the ire of some.

Following the lead of our august newspaper confreres at the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and possibly the Muncie Morning Tidbit, The Catholic Register will not be endorsing anyone in the election race to succeed Pope Francis.

Pope Francis voted for Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, in the 2005 conclave that followed the death of St. John Paul II.