With the death of Pope Francis, all eyes will be on the Vatican to see when a new pope will be selected and who it will be.

According to reports, the Vatican announced that a papal conclave will begin on May 7, and millions of Catholics around the world will be tuned in to see whether the Sistine Chapel billows white or black smoke.

White smoke coming from the chapel indicates that a new pope has been selected through secretive voting procedures, while black smoke indicates that a vote was unsuccessful and will resume again the next day.

Cardinals from around the world will gather at the Sistine Chapel in the lead-up to the conclave, with many hoping to succeed Pope Francis as the new leader of the Catholic Church.

What's going on?

While much of the voting procedure at the chapel is kept secret, around 135 cardinals will be eligible to become the next pope. Any cardinal under the age of 80 is allowed to vote in the process.

During the secretive voting process, the cardinals involved are kept locked within the Sistine Chapel until a new pope is chosen.

It's impossible to know who will ultimately end up as the new leader of the Catholic Church, but several cardinals have been named to unofficial shortlists of the most likely future pontiffs.

The U.K. Sun noted:

While the process of choosing Francis' successor is highly secretive, several cardinals have been identified as possible top contenders. They include Italy's Pietro Parolin, the Philippines' Luis Antonio Tagle, Hugary's Peter Erdo and Ghana's Peter Turkson.

The timing of the conclave falls in line with tradition, and usually takes 2-3 weeks in order to make the proper preparation for a vote.

NBC News noted:

It is customary for the conclave to be held 15 to 20 days after the pope's death, but until now the Holy See had not released the details of the gathering. Bruni said the conclave would not be held before May 7 due to the time required to make the necessary preparations.

Shortlists all over

Many outlets and experts, and even bookmakers have compiled lists of those shortlisted to succeed the late Pope Francis.

Social media users weighed in on the matter, with some calling for the new pope to be more on the conservative side, as Pope Francis definitely was not.

"Bring back a conservative pope," one X user wrote.

Another X user wrote, "Conservative tone for humanity’s sake."