There is a monumental task facing cardinal electors in the coming days choosing the next spiritual leader of the 1.4 billion Catholic faithful worldwide.
It is a decision - arguably a burden - that weighs heavily on some more than others and particularly significant to those for whom it is their first conclave.
133 cardinal electors from 70 countries across five continents are participating in the historical event, which is the largest and most international in the history of conclaves.
This has created its own headaches.
Over the past week, general congregations have taken place to enable cardinals to speak about the Church, get to know one another and establish positions.
So scant was their knowledge of fellow cardinals, that requests were made for the creation of tags - with names, countries of origin and whether cardinals were electors or not.
It was the first time such identification was used at general congregations, which cannot be insignificant.
Despite this, over half of the cardinals who entered the Sistine Chapel this afternoon, were involved in the Synodal process established by Francis.
This included two assemblies in October 2023 and October 2024 in Rome.
It is an interesting aspect to the conclave because through the synodal process, a bulk of electors got to know each other prior to this week's vote.
Considering that cardinal electors involved in the synod make up the majority of the 89 votes required to see a new pope elected, people have questioned whether this factor could outweigh geography.
Europe, Asia, Africa, the US, Latin America and, indeed, Italy tend to vote in blocks, but what is interesting about this conclave is that there are more men like Francis from the other end of the world than previously.
There will be a lot of soul-searching in the coming hours, which began with a mass in St Peter's Basilica this morning.
It was a solemn liturgy asking the Holy Spirit to guide the church in selecting a new pope.
This afternoon, there was a procession to the Sistine Chapel where cardinal electors took an oath to faithfully fulfill the role as pope if chosen.
Read more: A guide to the conclave - electing a pope
They also pledged to maintain absolute secrecy regarding the election.
Voting usually begins the afternoon of the first day, however, considering the size of this conclave and the potential language barriers in the Sistine Chapel when everyone else has been told to leave (extra omnes), nothing can be ruled out.
If the first vote does go ahead today as expected, it is unlikely that someone will be elected tonight.
In that case black smoke will be emitted from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel into St Peter's Square and the cardinals will retreat back to their accommodation to reflect, pray and consider, ahead of day two.
