Vatican: All mobile phone signals to be deactivated ahead of conclave to elect next Pope

Vatican New Pope: Vatican also plans to use signal jammers around the Sistine Chapel to stop electronic surveillance or communication.

Ahead of the secretive conclave to elect the next pope, all mobile phone signals will be deactivated in the Vatican on Wednesday, CNN reported, citing Italian state media.

The Vatican also plans to use signal jammers around the Sistine Chapel to stop electronic surveillance or communication outside the conclave, where 133 cardinals vote to decide who will be succeed Pope Francis, CNN reported, citing Italian news agency ANSA.

Phone signals will be deactivated at 3 pm (local time) on Wednesday, an hour and a half before the cardinals are scheduled to proceed to the Sistine Chapel to start the papal conclave, CNN reported, citing Italian state broadcaster RAI reported on Monday.

On Monday, the Vatican announced that all 133 cardinals who will vote to decide the successor of Francis have reached Rome. For centuries the Catholic Church leader has been selected in a highly secretive gathering known as “conclave”, meaning “with key” in Latin, a nod to how cardinals get locked in until a new pope is chosen. Cardinals have been given the task to choose the next pope after an elaborate process with roots in the Middle Ages.

The cardinals will have to give up their mobile phones and electronic devices on Tuesday and they will receive their devices back after the conclave ends, a Vatican spokesman said.

The cardinals will remain in the Sistine Chapel and cut off from the outside world from Wednesday. All of the cardinals who will participate in the conclave will remain in complete isolation and will take a vow to observe “absolute and perpetual secrecy.”

The signal deactivation will not impact St Peter’s Square, where the people often gather, according to the spokesman. However, security has been increased throughout St Peter’s Square, with checkpoints at the entrances and the deployment of metal detectors and anti-drone systems at the public space, CNN reported citing news outlet Corriere della Sera.

During the conclave, the Sistine Chapel is placed under total lockdown to have complete secrecy. In 2013, signal blockers were installed to stop any calls, texts, or internet access that elected Francis. In addition, the electricians, plumbers and elevator operators who will keep the Vatican running during the conclave will commit themselves to secrecy.

The statement from the Vatican City State Governorate said, “They all take an oath and will be in full-time service, staying overnight in the Vatican, without having contact with their families.”

The funeral mass of Pope Francis, who passed away on April 21, concluded at St. Peter’s Square on April 26, with the bells of St Peter’s Basilica tolling to signal the end of the 2 hours and 10 minutes long service.
Large crowds lined up along Rome’s streets to pay their respects to Pope Francis as the white popemobile carrying his coffin made its way across the Vatican flanked by motorbikes on its way to the pope’s final resting place, a place of his choosing.

Pope Francis’ coffin was transported across the River Tiber to the fifth-century church in Rome, the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, where bells tolled ahead of the arrival of the pontiff’s body. The Basilica of Saint Mary Major in was a place that the pope visited frequently throughout his 12-year papacy. (ANI)

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