Conclave: from Pauline to Sistine Chapel

(Vatican Radio) The activities of the Cardinals on day one of the Conclave are carried out according to the rules and regulations established after the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
Each procedure carried out during the duration of a Conclave is meticulously set out and to be found in the Book of Rites of the Conclave.
So at 4.30pm on Tuesday 12^th March, the 115 Cardinal Electors officially entered the Conclave for the election of the new Roman Pontiff as prescribed by the “Orto Rituum Conclavis”.
Linda Bordoni reports:
The Pauline Chapel, recently restored to its ancient splendour is radiant with the beauty of two Michelangelo frescoes representing the Crucifixion of Saint Peter and the Conversion of Saint Paul. It’s where the Cardinals gathered before they solemnly processed to the Sistine Chapel where the voting and the burning of the ballots takes place…
Chanting the Litany of the Saints, the invocations and the “Veni Creator Spiritus”, the 115 Cardinals processed behind an upheld cross before entering the Sistine Chapel in an inverted order of precedence.
Once in the Chapel, one by one, each Cardinal Elector took his oath to observe the rules laid down in the Apostolic Constitution.
The Oath, pronounced in Latin, is the one of absolute secrecy. The Cardinals, a hand on the Bible, solemnly swore not to be influenced by anyone. That whoever is elected will carry out the “munus petrinum” of pastor of the Universal Church and will affirm and strenuously defend the spiritual and temporal rights and liberty of the Holy See.
And then the Master of Ceremonies prpronnounced the Latin words for “Everybody Out”
ordering all those not connected with the Conclave to leave the Chapel.

Just after 5.30pm he closed the doors of the Sistine Chapel, a clear signal that that from that moment until the conclusion of the Conclave no unauthorized person will be allowed in.

And behind those closed doors, Cardinal Prosper Grech, from Malta offered the Cardinal Electors a meditation concerning the grave duty incumbent on the need to act with right intention for the good of the universal church.

After that time of reflection, he too took his leave together with the Master of Papal Liturgical Ceremony leaving the Cardinal Electors to pray and vote in silence, having “only God before their eyes”.