Roman Catholic cardinals destroyed the late Pope John Paul's ring and seal today in a symbolic end to his authority before secluding themselves from the world to elect his successor and 265th pontiff.
As the cardinals held their last meeting before a conclave starts on Monday, the Vatican said smoke would pour from a chimney above the Sistine Chapel twice each voting day, telling the world whether or not a new pope has been elected.
At today's meeting the cardinals watched an ancient ritual marking the transition between two popes, the destruction of Pope John Paul's "Fisherman's Ring" and his lead seal, two symbols of his authority.
On Monday the 115 cardinal electors under the age of 80 from 52 countries will file in solemn procession into the Michelangelo-frescoed Sistine Chapel where the voting for a new pope takes place.
There the cardinal-electors will hold up to four ballots a day, two in the morning and two in the afternoon, until they elect the 265th pope in the 2000-year-old history of the Roman Catholic Church.
Smoke signals above the Sistine Chapel, black smoke for an indecisive vote, white for a new pope, are expected at around noon and 7 pm each voting day.
On Monday afternoon, after they swear an oath of secrecy and fidelity to the regulations governing the centuries-old election ritual, the cardinals will decide whether to hold a first ballot that night or to start voting on Tuesday morning.
The cardinals for the first time in centuries will live in a modern hotel -- the Domus Sanctae Marthae -- inside the Vatican and not in makeshift quarters around the Sistine Chapel.
They will move into the residence tomorrow.
On Monday morning cardinals will preside at a public Mass in St. Peter's Basilica before the start of the elaborate lock-up ritual in the Sistine and the residence that night.