papal conclave

(Newser) - Pope Benedict is officially retired, and it's time for deliberations on his successor to begin in earnest. The "princes of the Church," top cardinals worldwide, will soon meet informally to discuss plans; on Monday, formal talks begin, Reuters reports. In closed-door general congregations, cardinals will assess potential...

(Newser) - It's been less than two weeks since Roger Mahony was pulled from all public duties over his role in covering up child molestation cases. But that won't stop the LA cardinal from heading to Rome to help pick a successor to Pope Benedict, the LA Times reports. The...

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI is the first pope to step down since 1294 , so you probably have quite a few questions about what happens next. But it turns out the process the papal conclave will use to elect the next pope will be fairly familiar: With the exception of a period...