The cardinals who will elect the next pope have arrived in Rome. They will take part in the secret conclave which is due to start behind the closed, wooden doors of the Sistine Chapel on the afternoon of Wednesday April 7th. Last Friday workers attached a chimney to the top of the chapel which will carry the white smoke that will signal the election of Pope Francis’ successor.

So how does it all work? Mathew Schmalz unpacks a tradition that goes back centuries and explains how voting is organised and what’s at stake in this election. Joanne M. Pierce sets out the makeup of the current College of Cardinals. One significant fact is that this conclave has a record number of non-European cardinals who are eligible to vote - 82 out of 135.

This matters because, as Stan Chu Ilo points out, this election will present cardinals with a stark choice between going back to a monarchical papacy with its pomp and pageantry, or one focussing on the poor. Neomi De Anda reflects on the fact that Pope Francis was not only the first Latin American Pope, he was the first American pope since, though geography divides it into two continents, North and South, it is one land. And Craig Considine writes about how Pope Francis marked a distinct shift in the Catholic Church’s engagement with the Muslim world.