The papal election timeline: Coffee, cocktails, then conclave
St. Peter's Square - Rome. During the process to elect a new pope, Cardinals will stay in the Casa Santa Marta, a $20 million hotel-style residence inside the Vatican walls built by Pope John Paul II. Cardinals may not leave the Vatican grounds until a conclave concludes. RNS photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons (http://bit.ly/XqMJiW) / Public Domain.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Because the closed-door conclave doesn't allow cardinals to do much talking to each other, they're taking their time getting started to allow the electors to size up the candidates.