The Guardian’s Harriet Sherwood talks through the pomp and the politics of the conclave: the process to elect Pope Francis’s successor

On Wednesday, 133 cardinals will gather in the Sistine Chapel to select the next pope.

It is called the conclave and it is one of the oldest election processes in the world. For days – perhaps even weeks – the cardinals in Rome will vote again and again until one candidate wins a two-thirds majority. Then, and only then, will they be named as the successor to Pope Francis.