Francis’ successor will be selected by cardinals at the conclave that began on May 7. Cardinals, known as the “princes of the church,” rank just below the pope in the Roman Catholic Church; together, they are known as the College of Cardinals. When a pope dies, the college chooses a successor.

As cardinals gather at the Sistine Chapel to begin voting for a successor to Pope Francis, there is no single frontrunner, and it remains unclear whether the new pope will align with Francis’s more inclusive ideology.

The potential influence of the spiritual leader of 1.4 billion Catholics attracts the attention of the secular world as well.