deliver that reform. edward, let s end with you before we go back to john and zoraida. how expected is the mood of the church right now to see some type of change in quotes, because who knows what it will mean? i don t know. i ve been a priest for a long time and haven t seen this buzz in a very long time. i have parishioners e-mailing me, who do you think will be the pope? will there be change? so, there is a lot of expectation and hopefully the holy spirit is a large part of this. john, father beck, we ll be with you all morning, obviously. we leave you with pictures and go back to john and zoraida. the cardinals continuing to come in, beginning the mass, all lays on the shoulders of these 115 men, john and zoraida. mass begins now. chris, these pictures are truly amazing. such interesting assessments you re having right now in rome. and the process so fascinating. it s really fantastic. thank you for that. we ll go back and check in again. meantime, go ahead and supersiz
reading clearly indicating that they want to bring somebody to fix this church, to bring good news to christians around the world that the new pope will be taking care of their everyday needs. the red curtain just behind me above the doors of st. peter s basilica is where the pope, once he is named, will appear to the world for the first time. despite the rain, there is great excitement here as this afternoon voting gets under way for the first time. chris? reporter: all right, miguel, thank you. check in with you in a little bit. let s bring in john allen now, senior vatican analyst. this is the last major influence, politically, to use the words loosely. the last time we had a conclave, 2005, this mass, the homily is given by the dean of cardinals. that was joseph ratzinger. so, it was a major moment for him. what is the context this time with angelo sodano? well, slightly different, chris. i think a lot of people will tell you that the homily ratzinger gave in 2005 sort of
reporter: this is really, and after this, it s go time. i mean, they re at the mass. these are holy men. they re trying to draw inspiration, and hopefully, some guidance today, because when this mass is over, sure, they ll go back to where they re all staying, casa santa marta, and they ll have some lunch, but then they really have to get down to business. and the church at this point, as we go back to john berman in new york, the church has not faced the kinds of issues that it does right now in a long time, john. so, these 115 cardinals have some serious work cut out for them. so true. so, too, chris, the stakes are incredibly high right now as we watch these ceremonies unfold before our very eyes in rome. chris, we ll come back to you. back here at home, new york city mayor michael bloomberg promising to appeal a court ruling that struck down his controversial ban on sugary soft drinks that was to have started today. in his 11th-hour ruling, the judge called the law banning dr
at 10:45 eastern this morning those cardinals are scheduled to leave their residence at casa santa marta. 45 minutes later they will enter the sistine chapel and the pope watch officially begins. we ve got a jump-start on that. the pope watch starts very early here at cnn. chris cuomo is leading our coverage in rome. good morning, chris. hey, john. how are you? you know, this is the last moment that all the cardinals who will vote are together before they get down to business. this mass is about drawing inspiration. it s alled pro eligendo pontifice in latin. it is to select the pope, that s the purpose of this mass. and right now we re at the point in the mass where they are receiving communion. which is the most holy and spiritual aspect of the mass for catholics. where they believe that in taking communion they are taking in the literal body and blood of god. so this is a very big moment for them that we re watching. they are joined by some 6,500
p.m. eastern or so, we may see smoke rising out of that chimney from the sistine chapel for the first time. nobody expects it to be white smoke today. chris? reporter: all right, thank you, miguel. we ll be coming back to you all morning. and as you re seeing, there will be a picture of the ongoing mass. the cardinals are all going up, presenting themselves at the altar as they get ready to begin their mass. this is a process that they lean very heavily on their faith. the expectation is that god has already decided who the next pope is and their challenge is to figure out who he has decided it is. now, obviously, beginning with the mass, we have two great experts with us to help us through all the proceedings for today. seated just to my right here is john allen, our senior vatican analyst. great to have you, as always. next to him, father edward beck, passionate priest, cnn contributor. this begins with a mass, fitting for a religious organization, but edward, what makes this mass