CNN: Conclave to Select Next Pope Expected to Begin in May

EXCERPT:

ALLEN: “You know, whenever the cardinals do enter into the conclave, and we‘re expecting, you know, that date is — you're right, has not been announced yet, we‘re expecting it might begin around May 6th or seventh. We‘re hoping the next few days we will get some clarity on that. You know, but I would say, don‘t look too carefully about who appointed these cardinals. You know, Francis himself has appointed about 80% of the cardinal electors. Of course, there are over 250 cardinals in the Catholic Church. Those who are 80 are not eligible to vote in the conclave. Those who are under 80 are. There are 135 who are under 80 and are therefore eligible to vote in a conclave. And of those men, 80% were appointed by Pope Francis. But that doesn‘t necessarily mean that we‘re going to get somebody who is in complete continuity with him. You know, Pope Francis and Benedict before him and John Paul II before him, appointed men not so much for their policies. You know, I think Benedict did a little bit more so. Francis, really, in his appointees, focused on men based off of where they‘re from to highlight a specific geographic area, those countries on the peripheries, places that maybe have small Catholic populations but where he felt they needed to be encouraged or just have a stronger voice and stronger representation in the church. And so many of those men, we don‘t necessarily know where they stand on any given issue, so it‘s really kind of a mixed bag as we‘re going into this in terms of what to expect."