Pope Francis’s death on Monday launches the centuries-old Catholic ritual of mourning and selecting a new leader of the church.

Bells rang early Monday to announce the death of Francis, who died at the age of 88 at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta after a long series of health complications stemming from a chronic lung disease.

Francis is the last sitting head of the Vatican to die in 20 years, since Pope John Paul II in 2005. Former Pope Benedict, who died in 2022, resigned in 2013, which led to the election of Francis in the conclave.

The process of finding a new pope is wrought with tradition. Here are five things to know about the papal succession.

When will it happen?

Cardinals will gather for what is known as “a conclave” about 15 to 20 days after Francis’s death to select a new pope. The time the papacy is vacant, due to a death or resignation, is called the “sede vacante” — Latin for “vacant seat.”

The initial mourning period before the conclave involves a private chapel viewing for Francis’s family to mourn before a public viewing. Francis rewrote the funeral rites in 2024 to simplify them, nixing a private viewing for cardinals and church hierarchy and asking for a public viewing in St. Peter’s Basilica with his coffin not raised on a pedestal.

Cardinals will then gather for the traditional deliberations inside the........

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