Conclave LIVE: New Pope to be chosen as candidates gather in Vatican | World | News

Cardinals charged with picking a new pope to lead the Catholic Church have been told they are making a “choice of exceptional importance”.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said: “We are here to invoke the help of the Holy Spirit, to implore his light and strength so that the pope elected may be he whom the Church and humanity need at this difficult and complex turning point in history.

“To pray, by invoking the Holy Spirit, is the only right and proper attitude to take as the cardinal electors prepare to undertake an act of the highest human and ecclesial responsibility and to make a choice of exceptional importance.

“This is a human act for which every personal consideration must be set aside, keeping in mind and heart only the God of Jesus Christ and the good of the Church and of humanity.”