What time will we see black or white smoke? How can I watch the chimney for white or black smoke?

That is the question ghosts really should be made to answer: Why remain where you have been most miserable?

Now that the 133 cardinal electors are ensconced in the Sistine Chapel to elect a successor to Pope Francis, some potential candidates have come to the fore.

When else do we get an opportunity like this, to take someone at this level of leadership at face value?

As the Catholic Church prepares to elect a new leader, the editors of 'America' remember an extraordinary and beloved pontiff: Francis, a pope of monumental surprises.

And what pressing questions they believe the Catholic Church faces today

Some five hours after the opening Mass, the cardinals were to process into the Sistine Chapel, swear an oath to uphold the conclave rules, listen to a final reflection and—if they chose to do so—conduct the first ballot.

Perhaps a revealing question is whether the church will continue the radical novelty Francis brought as a pope from a religious order—and whether this is the continuity needed now.

'America' is covering its 10th papal conclave this week—and while the technology has changed, the content remains much the same.

No one gathers Christians—Catholics and non-Catholics alike—throughout the world, however imperfectly, in the way the pope does. The world needs the pope.