Cardinal Blase Cupich led the delegation of North American Cardinals as they boarded buses bound for sequestered quarters at the Vatican Tuesday evening.
Seminarians lined the road to applaud, in good faith, the men who will choose the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
The tables are set, and place cards mark the seat for each of the 133 voting cardinals.
The Sistine Chapel awaits the Catholic Church's most senior decision-makers.
The tables are set, and place cards mark the seat for each of the 133 voting cardinals.
In the sacred sanctuary, beneath the beauty of Michelangelo's Frescos, the voting cardinals will etch their choice for Pope Francis' successor on handwritten ballots, placed, one by one, into a silver vessel.
"There's lots of speculation, but nobody really is a front-runner," said Senior Religious Analyst Father Thomas Reese.
The old Catholic adage, as it goes, is enter the conclave as a pope, leave a cardinal.
Reese is there to witness the fourth conclave of his priesthood. It is the largest and most diverse conclave to date.
"They're not going to elect somebody who gets up and says, 'Pope Francis was a disaster. We're going back to the old church.' Nor are we going to get somebody elected who says, tomorrow, 'I'm going to ordain women.' It's going to be somebody in the middle, somebody like Pope Francis, that's very pastoral, very compassionate, but is going to move rather slowly in changing church doctrine, or anything," Reese said.
Cardinal Blase Cupich asked for prayers on social media as he heads into his very first conclave.
"I think he'll play an important role here at the Conclave. People trust him, respect him. So a lot of partners who don't know everybody, are going to go to him and say, 'Who do you think you know would make a good Pope?' I don't think he's a candidate, but he's the kind of person people will go to and ask, 'What do you think about this man? Who are you supporting?'" Reese said.
Outside in St. Peter's Square, there are tourists, Catholics, and students, and some who are all three, like those in a college acapella choir group on tour.
Chase Hoffman's Catholic upbringing in St. Charles, Illinois makes this moment for his faith all the more sacred.
"You walk through that door and it's like, wow, you really feel like the Holy Spirit kind of, like, flow through you. So, it's been amazing," Hoffman said.
The gravity of this transitional moment is not lost on Caleb Ham, who's extended his year abroad at Loyola Chicago Rome Center to bear witness in what way he can to the conclave.
"It's almost like a once in a lifetime opportunity," said Loyola Chicago Rome Center student Caleb Ham. "There's nothing else like this in the world. It's not like presidential election. It's something for an institution that's lasted for 2,000 years."
