4月16日，梵蒂岡為病逝的教皇約翰保羅二世舉行了最后一場彌撒，結束九天的哀悼期。從18日起，來自52個國家的115名紅衣主教將分兩輪閉門投票，選舉新教皇，得票逾三分之二的主教將獲選為第265任教皇。外電報道如下：Bringing their suitcases and personal views on the future of the church, the cardinals who will select the next pope settled in their rooms Sunday in the Vatican hotel that will be their home until the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics have a new leader.

The conclave starts Monday after the 115 red-robed cardinals join a formal procession into the Sistine Chapel, where efforts to maintain the secrecy of deliberations have included installing jamming devices to foil sophisticated eavesdropping equipment.

But the cardinals' arrival at the $20 million Domus Sanctae Marthae took them into the imposed isolation of the papal election - which has not lasted longer than five days in the past century but remains an open-ended process. The last conclave in 1978 took eight ballots over three days to choose Pope John Paul II.

Cardinal在上文中意為“紅衣主教；樞機主教”，紅衣主教是天主教會內的高級宗教官員，級別僅低于教皇，由教皇任命為紅衣主教團成員。此外，cardinal作形容詞表示“主要的、首要的；大紅的、鮮紅的”，還有“北美紅雀，女士（紅）斗篷，（燙熱的）紅葡萄酒”等名詞含義。例如：a matter of cardinal significance.（一件很重要的事）；a cardinal rule（基本準則）；cardinal sins（七大罪）；cardinal bird（北美紅雀）。

（中國日報網站編）