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PHOTOS: Day 1 of the Vatican conclave to elect the next Pope

The 115 cardinals under 80 were locked into the Sistine Chapel this afternoon to begin the process of choosing the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

AFTER DAYS OF informal talks, the formal process of electing a new leader for the Roman Catholic Church began this afternoon in the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City.

115 cardinals from around the world were locked in to the 15th century church to begin the process – which is expected to last days – after attending a special mass in St Peter’s Basilica.

These photographs were taken before and during the mass.

Cardinal Timothy Dalton (right) waves to reporters this morning before leaving on a bus to go to the Vatican’s Domus Sanctae Martae, the hotel where the cardinals stay during the conclave. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A pilgrim with bare feet and wearing a sackcloth kneels in St Peter’s Square during the mass at the Basilica before the cardinals sequestered themselves in the Sistine Chapel. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Photographers shoot photos of friars as they cross St Peter’s Square (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Italian cardianl Angelo Scola arrives at the mass inside St Peter’s Basilica (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Cardinals enter the mass at St Peter’s Basilica (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

A nun follows the proceedings of the mass on a giant screen in St Peter’s Square (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

People watch the mass on giant screens in St Peter’s Square (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Portuguese cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins in St Peter’s Square (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Read: Centuries-old rituals to be carried out as conclave begins >

Explainer: How is a new Pope chosen? >

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35 Comments
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    Mute John Manahan
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 11:18 AM

    Never heard of them.

    61
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    Mute Christopher Duffin
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 11:16 AM

    While competition is good, there are far too many mobile companies in such a small country.

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    Mute Jayniemac
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 11:22 AM

    Same as, I’ve never heard of them!

    30
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    Mute Jamie Murphy
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 11:17 AM

    So are the phones they sold unlocked? if not are they going to give unlock codes out?

    28
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    Mute Michele Neylon
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 11:32 AM

    If they’re not unlocked now they’ll have to unlock them (I think they’re obliged to .. )

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    Mute Jamie Murphy
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 11:37 AM

    I hope they will make it easy and just text out unlock codes if the phones are not unlocked. My dad is in love with his JCB toughphone. Its been through 9 rounds of the washing machine and still works perfectly!

    18
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    Mute Kathleen O Toole Tighe
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 12:10 PM

    I never even heard of them !

    21
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    Mute jason bourne
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 12:12 PM

    Seems the problem was they didn’t advertise properly or at all considering how few people have even heard of the company

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    Mute Dec Byrne
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 3:26 PM

    @Alan Madden, the reason they were only prepaid at the moment was that you apparently have to have a certain amount of pre paid customers signed up before you can branch out into the ”bill pay” market. I liked thier ad’s but in fairness to them it must be hard to go up against the big boys advertising budgets. Best of luck to them at least they tried, and their money was going back into the communities and charities in Ireland.

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    Mute Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 10:42 PM

    They haven’t filed accounts with CRO yet…since 2007 so I’m sure there’s plenty they haven’t contributed to their communities.

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    Mute Barry
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 11:57 AM

    Not surprised, I’ve never ever seen them even advertised outside of Dublin.
    Only way I found out about them was some link on boards which showed they had adverts on some buses in Dublin

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    Mute Róisín Áine Nic Dhonnacha
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 12:17 PM

    I hadn’t heard of them either until yesterday evening when someone asked me about a linkedin profile of someone connected to the company.

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    Mute Stepping Stones
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 2:13 PM

    I never herd of them either. Their marketing strategy mustn’t have been great.

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    Mute Daithí Ó'Céileachair
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 11:25 AM

    Maybe the phones will still work on the Vodafone network even if they are locked.

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    Mute Pat Gallagher
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 12:58 PM

    how were they the only Irish owned network? is Meteor not Irish? I thought view were?

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    Mute Paddy O'Reilly
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 1:26 PM

    Meteor is owned by Eircom, who last I heard was owned by Singapore Technologies Telemedia, but Eircom keeps getting asset stripped and bought & sold,

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    Mute Conor Foley
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 1:26 PM

    Meteor is part of eircom which is in turn (currently) majority owned by STT (Singapore Technologies Telemedia) so its not irish owned

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    Mute Róisín Áine Nic Dhonnacha
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 3:44 PM

    There was an ad?

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    Mute Alan Madden
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    Aug 3rd 2011, 1:26 PM

    @pat – they ‘were’ the only irish owned “pre paid” mobile operator. Bit silly really cos it does appear at first glance that they are the only Irish owned operator here.

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    Mute Eoin Sheehy
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    Aug 4th 2011, 11:37 AM

    I didn’t even hear about them, and once I heard they were closing down I got a look at their website and they’re basically the cheapest, I’m so annoyed!

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