Zeenews Bureau
Vatican City: Ahead of papal voting process that is set to begin Tuesday afternoon, cardinals took to twitter to post goodbye tweets to their followers before they get confined within Sistine Chapel`s secret conclave for uncertain time.
"Last tweet before moving to Casa Santa Martha, and Mass to Elect a Pope: First Conclave meeting late Tuesday afternoon. Prayers needed, "Cardinal Roger Mahony, the retired Archbishop of Los Angeles, tweeted.
Another cardinal from South Africa Wilfrid Napier also posted his last tweet before conclave".
"Last tweet before conclave: May Our Father hear and answer with love and mercy all prayers and sacrifices offered for fruitful outcome. God bless!"
Sistine Chapel is equipped with an electronic shield that blocks all communication and cardinals aren`t allowed to connect with the outside world until the process gets over.
The Vatican has said that any cardinal caught tweeting will be barred from the process.
The voting process for new pope this time around is set to extend into days with uncertainty looming large over the next Pope`s name.
After the cardinals get locked down in the conclave, the world outside will have just one way to know about the voting – the colour of the chimney smoke.
Black smoke indicates the pope hasn`t been elected yet, white smoke denotes a new pope has been chosen.
If the leading names fail to reach the 77 votes required for victory in the first few rounds of balloting, any number of surprise candidates could come to the fore as alternatives.
