Not long now

Conclave is to start on 12 March

THE SISTINE CHAPEL

The 115 cardinal electors are reday to elect the new Pope

VATICAN INSIDER STAFFROME

The College of Cardinals' eighth General Congregation has decided that the Conclave for the election of the new Pope will begin on 12 March 2013. This is according to a communiqué issued by the Holy See Press Office. The Mass "Pro Eligendo Pontefice" will be celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica in the morning andf in the afternoon cardinals will begin the Conclave.

The 115 cardinal electors are ready to vote for the new Pope. The average age of the cardinals is 72, most of them were appointed by Benedict XVI and over half of them are European. There are 28 Italian cardinal electors making them the largest group but all five continents are represented. (View the new infographic of the cardinal electors here).

- AVERAGE AGE 71-72. There are eight cardinals who have either just turned eighty or will turn eighty this year.

- KASPER IS THE OLDEST CARDINAL AND THOTTUNKAL IS THE YOUNGEST. The German Walter Kasper turned 80 on 5 March, before the start of the Conclave but after the start of the sede vacante period. Cardinals are eligible to vote up until the age of 80. Severino Poletto and Juan Sandoval Iniguez turn 80 this March. The youngest cardinal elector is the Indian Baselio Cleemis Thottunkal who turns 54 in June. Filipino cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle’s birthday is also in June but he will turn 56. There are three more cardinals under the age of 60: two Germans and one Dutchman.

- OVER HALF OF THE CARDINAL ELECTORS ARE EUROPEANS. There are 60 electors representing the Old Continent, followed by Latin America with 19 representatives and North America with 14 (so 33 in total), Africa with 11 and Asia with 10. There is also one Australian, george Pell.

- ITALY HAS THE MOST MEMBERS, FOLLOWED BY THE U.S. Italy is the most represented country in the Conclave, with 28 cardinals. It is followed by the United States, which has 11 cardinal electors and Germany with 6. Spain and Brazil will have five cardinals each representing them in the Sistine Chapel.

- 67 OF THE CARDINAL ELECTORS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN BY THE POPE EMERITUS. The majority, 58%, were created cardinals by Benedict XVI. The other 48 were created byJohn Paul II. Paul VI created two of the members of the College of Cardinals but they are over 80 years old so cannot vote in the Conclave.

- 19 RELIGIOUS. The Salesian and Franciscan congregations are the ones with the most representatives in the Conclave - 4 cardinals each. Don Bosco’s followers include Tarcisio Bertone, Angelo Amato, Raffaele Farina and the Honduran, Oscar Maradiaga. The Franciscans are: the Brazilian, Claudio Hummes, the Spaniard, Carlos Amigo Vallejo and the South African, Wilfrid Fox Napier; the American Capuchin friar, Sean Patrick O’Malley, also belongs to this group. There are also two Jesuits, two Dominicans and one Redemptorist, one Lazarist, one Sulpician, the Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate, the Scalabrinians, a Mariamite and a religious from the Schonstatt Fathers.