Photographs: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters
The 115 cardinals responsible for electing a new leader for the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics are set to sit down and cast their secret vote on the next Pope.
They moved into the Vatican ahead of the secret papal election. The 115 cardinal electors who pick the next leader of 1.2 billion Catholics in a conclave in the Sistine Chapel will live inside the Vatican walls completely cut off from the outside world until they have made their choice.
On Tuesday, the cardinal-electors moved into seclusion in a Vatican hotel ahead of the secret vote.
After lunch on Tuesday, the electors proceeded into the Sistine Chapel, where one vote will be held in the evening.
The ballot papers used will be burned after the vote and the smoke that will drift out of the chapel's rust-coloured chimney early this evening is likely to be black -- meaning no Pope -- as no frontrunner has emerged in the five days of general discussions so far among the 115 cardinals.
Let's take a look at the preparations in place for the historic event.
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Cardinals enter Vatican for secret election of new Pope
Photographs: Eric Gaillard/Reuters
A worker carries chairs inside Saint Peter's Basilica during the preparations for the election of the new Pope at the Vatican
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Cardinals enter Vatican for secret election of new Pope
Photographs: Osservatore Roman/Reuters
Two stoves with a common flue have been installed in the Sistine Chapel for the burning of papal ballots
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Cardinals enter Vatican for secret election of new Pope
Photographs: Eric Gaillard/Reuters
A worker carries chairs inside Saint Peter's Basilica during the preparations for the election of the new Pope at the Vatican
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Cardinals enter Vatican for secret election of new Pope
Photographs: Eric Gaillard/Reuters
Workers put up a red curtain on the central balcony, called the Loggia of the Blessings of Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican
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Cardinals enter Vatican for secret election of new Pope
Photographs: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
A statue of St Paul stands in front of the Sistine Chapel which has had a chimney installed ahead of the papal conclave
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Cardinals enter Vatican for secret election of new Pope
Photographs: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Cardinal Baselois Cleemis Thottunkal, of India, arrives for the final congregation before cardinals enter the conclave to vote for a new pope
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Cardinals enter Vatican for secret election of new Pope
Photographs: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Police gather near to the entrance to Vatican City. The Sistine Chapel is now under a "dead zone" due to the effects of a Faraday cage, named after the English scientist Michael Faraday, which blocks electromagnetic interference to prevent radio wave transmission from happening; thus, no mobile device can penetrate the mesh.
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Cardinals enter Vatican for secret election of new Pope
Photographs: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
A nun talks on her telephone outside a church as cardinals prepare to elect a new Pope.
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Cardinals enter Vatican for secret election of new Pope
Photographs: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Saint Peter's Square is seen from the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican
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