A million throng Vatican as cardinals set date for conclave

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2005

VATICAN CITY (AFP) — Roman Catholic cardinals set April 18 as the date they will start electing a successor to Pope John Paul II, as a million pilgrims massed at the Vatican desperate to pay their last respects.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the cardinals set the date for closed-door conclave after convening in secret here, and had also read a last testament left by the pope.

"The date of the conclave was set for April 18," he told a news conference. "At 10:00 am (0800 GMT) a mass will be held and they will start their conclave in the early afternoon."

The testament, which he said the pontiff had penned at various times since 1979, will be published Thursday, he added.

However it does not reveal the name of a cardinal appointed "in...