• A conclave of cardinals is currently ongoing in Vatican city
  • They are looking for a new for a successor for the late Pope Francis
  • However, they might have trouble keeping touch via their mobile phones
Conclave
The conclave might have terrible phone service Credit: IMAGO

Everyone has gone papal conclave mad as dozens of cardinals have descended on Rome’s Vatican City to pick a successor to the late Pope Francis.

133 cardinals from all over the world piled into the Sistine Chapel to seclude themselves to vote for a pope.

However, while they might have a lot to do, one thing they probably struggle do is to call anyone on their mobiles. An announcement recently proclaimed they would cut the phone reception until a new pope was decided.

“The signal will be restored after the announcement of the election of the supreme pontiff,” the governorate said in a statement.

The pontiff passed away aged 88 on Easter Monday after recently being released from the hospital with a bout of double pneumonia. His last acts on earth included meeting US Vice-President JD Vance and condemning the genocide in Palestine.

Read more: How do we know when the conclave is done?

What a great thirst for death, for killing, we witness each day in the many conflicts raging in different parts of our world!,” the late pope said in his address. “How much violence we see, often even within families, directed at women and children! How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants!”

When will the conclave end?

It will end when they’ve picked a new pope, no sooner and no later!

The world will know when the famous smoke that comes out of the Sistine Chapel’s chimney turns white. Nowadays, the smoke is partly made up of burning the ballot papers used in the voting process.

The iconic move comes with a lot of anxiety for both art history fans and Catholics at as the age of the infrastructure.

“This is such a precise process because if one thing goes wrong, it’s not just a technical failure – it becomes an international incident,” structural engineer Kevin Farlman told BBC News.