Welcome

Return to
Press Photo Menu

Next - Previous

Statues on the roof of the Vatican's St Peter's Basilica are silhouetted under storm clouds April 17, 2005. Roman Catholic cardinals moved into sequestered lodgings on Sunday ahead of a conclave to elect a successor to Pope John Paul II, with no clear favourite in sight to take charge of the 1.1 billion-member Church.

REUTERS/Max Rossi

Visitors to the Vatican's St. Peter's Square try to take shelter from sudden rain, April 17, 2005. Roman Catholic cardinals started to move into sequestered lodgings Sunday ahead of a momentous conclave to elect the successor to Pope John Paul II. The 115 eligible cardinals will enter the secretive conclave in the Sistine Chapel Monday with no clear favorite to take over the reins of the 1.1 billion-member Church.

REUTERS/Kimimasa Mayama

A ray of evening sunlight catches water at a fountain opposite St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. As cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church prepare to choose a new pope the gulf between the Church's teaching on sexual issues and the actual practices of the faithful in Europe remains as deep as ever.

(AFP/Filippo Monteforte)

Velvet drapes hang over the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Satuday, April 16, 2005, where the new pope will make his first public appearence after his election. Starting Monday, April 18, 115 Cardinals from all over the world will hold secret and closed-door meetings in the Sistine Chapel to elect the next head of the Roman Catholic Church.

(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A giant screen showing a cross during the live broadcast of a midmorning Mass attended by cardinals inside St. Peter's Basilica as red curtains hang from the window of the balcony of the basilica where the newly elected pope will appear after his election by 115 voting cardinals, at the Vatican, Monday April 18, 2005. Representing 52 countries, the 115 crimson-robed 'princes' of a church celebrated a midmorning Mass at St. Peter's Basilica before sequestering themselves in the Sistine Chapel later to start deliberating their choice of new pope.

(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Cardinals attend the 'Pro Eligendo Papa' Mass, presided over by German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, at the Vatican's St Peter's Basilica on Monday April 18, 2005. Representing 52 countries, the 115 crimson-robed 'princes' of a church celebrated a midmorning Mass at St. Peter's Basilica before sequestering themselves in the Sistine Chapel at 4:30 p.m to start deliberating their choice of new pope. (1430 GMT).

(AP Photo/Tony Gentile, Pool)

Cardinals attend the 'Pro Eligendo Papa' Mass, presided over by German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, at the Vatican's St. Peter's Basilica April 18, 2005. Roman Catholic cardinals held a solemn Mass praying for divine inspiration Monday, hours before locking themselves away from the world to elect a successor to Pope John Paul II. The Mass in St. Peter's Basilica was led by 78-year-old German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's doctrinal chief who is seen by some as a leading candidate for the papal throne.

REUTERS/Tony Gentile

German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger presides over a mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican April 18, 2005. Cardinals will meet later today in the Sistine chapel for the start of the papal conclave.

REUTERS/Jerry Lampen

Cardinals pray during a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Monday April 18, 2005, in their last public appearence before sequestering themselves inside the Sistine Chapel later in the day. Thousand of pilgrims and tourist packed St. Peter's Basilica and the square to take a last glimpse of the cardinals who will elect the next head of the Roman Catholic Church during the conclave.

(AP Photo/ Pier Paolo Cito)