Live: Cardinals secretly deliberate the election of the new pope

The 133 cardinals who are to elect Pope Francis' successor were sworn in the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday to keep secret their vote and all the discussions of the conclave.

Before entering the Conclave, the 133 cardinals prayed together in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace.

From 10:00 am (4:00 pm in Rome) voting begins in the Sistine Chapel. In the event that one of the candidates for pope achieves two-thirds of the necessary votes, there will be white smoke from 11:30 am (5:30 pm in Rome). Otherwise, we will have to wait until 1:00 pm (7:00 pm in Rome) to know the resolution of the vote.

U.S. Cardinal Robert Prevost has slipped into the short list of six cardinals who will enter the Conclave as favorites to succeed Francis. Born in Chicago, this discreet Augustinian has had a brilliant career during the last years of the last pope, who took him to Rome to put him at the head of the Dicastery of Bishops, in charge of the appointment of new prelates around the world. He also made him a member of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

At 69 years of age, his colleagues describe him as a man "serene and temperate, of slow speech, affable look and firm convictions. One of those leaders who prefer to build from within rather than seek the spotlight."

They also highlight his "Latin American soul" after spending a large part of his career in Peru. In the 1980s, Prevost was sent as an Augustinian missionary to the diocese of Chulucanas, where he lived for more than 10 years, surrounded by poverty. After being superior general of the Augustinians for two terms (2001-2013), he returned to Peru as bishop of Chiclayo. There he maintained that same style: simple, close pastor, with a keen ear for detecting local leaders and forming new vocations.

Doctrinally, he is placed on the side of the reformists, following the legacy of Francis. However, unlike the Argentinean, he flees from the spotlight and has hardly given interviews or participated in public debates.

The Filipino Luis Antonio Tagle, known as the Asian Francis, and Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State and Francis' number two, are the two great favorites to succeed the pontiff. Alongside them, there are other cardinals and there remains the possibility of a consensus front-runner.

Cardinal Dean Giovanni Battista Re called on Wednesday to "maintain the unity of the Catholic Church" in a "difficult, complex and convulsive" moment, during the homily of the Mass prior to the conclave that will elect the future pope. During the liturgy in the Vatican Basilica of St. Peter, Re called for "unity" in the face of a "decision of great importance," in which "any personal consideration must be abandoned."

The day that begins the Conclave that will elect the new pope began with a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican presided over by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, who will not participate in the conclave because he is 91 years old. The cardinals entered in procession wearing the choral habit to ask for divine help in the crucial election of the future spiritual leader of 1.4 billion Catholics.