The leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has opened up about his worries ahead of his first Conclave – and football is at the forefront of his mind.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, 79, Archbishop of Westminster, will from Sunday join fellow senior members of the clergy to choose the next Pope.
Discussions will be held by the College of Cardinals in the imposing Sistine Chapel and the first that people will know a new Holy Father has been chosen is when a puff of white wafts up from the chimney.
The news comes from the burning of the cardinals’ ballot papers and if no winning candidate is chosen from the first rounds, black smoke is seen.
Merseyside-born Cardinal Nichols, who has already ruled himself out of running for Pontiff, has spoken to MailOnline for his first interview since Francis’s death.
The process starts on Sunday – the same day Liverpool have a shot at winning the Premier League.
Before being locked away for process the Sistine Chapel is swept for bugs and listening devices while the voting cardinals have all their electronic gadgets taken away, so they are ‘influenced by only God and prayer’ and no one else.
Liverpool supporter Cardinal Nichols, who was made a Cardinal by Pope Francis in 2014, described how he was looking forward to the election process, and joked to MailOnline: ‘It’s my first one so I don’t really know how it all works.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols (pictured), Archbishop of Westminster, will be attending his first Conclave where fellow cardinals choose the next Pope
Faithful pay their respect to the late Pope Francis who will lie in state inside St. Peter’s Basilica until Friday, at the Vatican, Thursday April 24, 2025
Nuns walk from the Vatican, after going to St. Peter’s Basilica, to see Pope Francis lying in state, in Rome, Italy, April 24, 2025
‘I’m hoping they will send out some sort of crib sheet that explains everything, but I hear they take away your phone or block it, but I really need mine.
‘It’s my alarm clock, am I going to sleep in? Prayer book? And I use it to check the football scores.
‘I just genuinely don’t know how it all works, and I’ve spoken to a few cardinals since I’ve been here and it’s also their first time.’
He continued: ‘How do we behave? What’s the process? And before you ask, I’ve not seen the film, but I’ve read the book, Conclave.
‘It will be intimidating for all of us but through peace and prayer we will work it out and things are forming in my mind. It will be someone with an ethical understanding and who most of all has a deep relationship with God.
‘A lot of the cardinals are new, and we need to hear from them about what the church is like in their country and the challenges they face.’
When asked by the Daily Mail if it was a job he would have liked, Cardinal Nichols, who was made Archbishop in 2009, laughed and said: ’Oh no, thank you.’
He added: ’When I was in Casa Marta, where the Pope’s body is, I thought here was a man who came here 20 years ago with a small suitcase and has never been home since.
Liverpool could take out the Premier League on Sunday – and the Merseyside-born Cardinal won’t know until the election process is over (stock photo)
When asked by the Daily Mail if it was a job he would have liked, Cardinal Nichols laughed and said: ’Oh no, thank you’
‘Whoever is chosen never goes home, they lose all the familiarity, and it will be a struggle to maintain’, the British cardinal warned
Just days before the pontiff’s death, the ailing pope told reporters he was ‘living it as best I can’ after he was plagued with health issues
He died at 7.35am local time on Monday, just over two hours after Alfieri received the worrying phone call from Strappetti
‘So, whoever is chosen never goes home, they lose all the familiarity, and it will be a struggle to maintain, I thought to myself “That’s like a different kind of death”.
‘If you are chosen as Pope, you die a death, it’s more than a commitment, it totally engulfs you and it’s like giving God a gift back and we saw Pope Francis died on the job, with his boots on.
‘So, in that sense I’m not sure I can sustain that, I’m not strong enough.’
The Crosby born Cardinal is currently staying at the Venerable English College in Rome where on Sunday he will watch his beloved Liverpool as they take on Tottenham looking to clinch the Premier League title.
He said: ‘There is a part of me that wishes I was there and the last time I was there was for Jurgen Klopp’s last game at the end of last season, so it’s been a while but if we win and we will, it will be magnificent.
‘Arne Slot is cool, smart and comes across externally well. The last time we win was behind locked doors so this will be fantastic for the city.’
But before Sunday he will have taken part in the funeral service for Pope Francis and on Wednesday, he spent several minutes in prayer at St Peter’s besides the open coffin joining thousands of others.
He said: ’It was just a moment of being present and appreciating the rapport that we had for each other.’
In the weeks before his death, he told doctors he did not want artificial respiration
After being released from hospital, his final appearance in public came on Easter Sunday as he greeted thousands of people at St. Peter’s Square in his popemobile
Pope Francis’ body is carried in a coffin into Saint Peter’s Basilica, on the day of its translation, at the Vatican, April 23, 2025
When asked what he thought of mourners taking pictures of the Pope’s body, Cardinal Nichols, said: ’Photographs I can understand but selfies are a bit ghoulish.
‘But I do remember it being like this with Pope John Paul, it was a bow, a kneel and then the camera came out for a photograph.
‘I think if you look at people’s faces you can see why they have queued for so long to get in there, it’s not for the selfie they do want to give their last respects and express their affection and thanks to God for Pope Francis but maybe there should be a little decorum.’
When asked what sort of person Pope Francis was, Cardinal Nichols, said:’ His best quality was that he could put anyone at ease with a quip and a tease and he always had a smile on his face, he had a sense of fun and will be very sadly missed.’
