Signal from Sistine Chapel chimney shows deliberations will continue over new leader of the Catholic church
Historically, some of the conclaves were really drawn out: in 13th century, they needed three years, over 1,000 days, to choose Gregory X.
There was also one that ended on the first day, when Julius II in 1503 was elected after just 10 hours.
Doors to the Sistine Chapel have been closed and first vote expected to be taken today
If you’d rather get up to date on the pomp and the politics of the conclave, the process to elect Pope Francis’s successor, good news: we’ve got you covered.
It is, as Guardian journalist Harriet Sherwood explains, an election rich in ceremony and ritual. Yet it can get very dirty too: cardinals lobbying in corridors and Vatican gardens; allegations of leaks to the media to discredit rivals; even the emergence of a video of one cardinal – a bookies’ favourite to be the next pope – singing ‘atheist anthem’ Imagine by John Lennon.
Cardinals set to meet behind closed doors of Sistine Chapel to decide who will become new pope
If you’d rather get up to date on the pomp and the politics of the conclave, the process to elect Pope Francis’s successor, good news: we’ve got you covered.
It is, as Guardian journalist Harriet Sherwood explains, an election rich in ceremony and ritual. Yet it can get very dirty too: cardinals lobbying in corridors and Vatican gardens; allegations of leaks to the media to discredit rivals; even the emergence of a video of one cardinal – a bookies’ favourite to be the next pope – singing ‘atheist anthem’ Imagine by John Lennon.
The CDU/CSU leader suffered an embarrassing surprise defeat in a first vote that was expected to be a formality
Friedrich Merz has been confirmed as Germany’s new chancellor but the process was not as smooth as he would have liked – and that’s an understatement.
Continue reading...Man expected to lead country is first postwar candidate to lose first voting round, described as ‘complete catastrophe’
For what it’s worth, multiple German media are now suggesting that there won’t be another round of voting today – exactly because Merz and his team worry about the risk of another hugely embarrassing defeat.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Bild and Stern’s Julias Betschka all say the second vote is unlikely to take place today. Let’s wait for the official confirmation, though.
Co-leaders say party is ‘being publicly discredited and criminalised’ by intelligence agency’s move to change classification
Elsewhere, TikTok has been fined €530m for violations of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation after the Irish Data Protection Commission’s inquiry into its data transfers to China.
DPC deputy commissioner Graham Doyle said in a press statement:
“The GDPR requires that the high level of protection provided within the European Union continues where personal data is transferred to other countries.