If the vote doesn't yield the two-third majority needed to elect the new pope, the cardinals go back to guesthouse Casa Santa Marta for dinner. It is then, on the sidelines of the voting process, that important conversations among the cardinals take place and consensus begins to coalesce around different names.

The process to elect the 267th pope begins Wednesday as cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel. They will decide whether to continue Pope Francis's reforms or return to traditional practices. The conclave,