Cardinals enter Sistine Chapel for conclave

People watch cardinals assembled in the Sistine Chapel at the start the conclave to elect a new pope on a video monitor in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Tuesday, March 12, 2013. AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky

VATICAN CITY—Catholic cardinals Tuesday processed solemnly into the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican for a secret conclave to elect a new pope.

The scarlet-robed cardinals chanted the traditional Litany of the Saints as they filed past liveried Swiss Guards flanking the chapel’s imposing entrance.

Michelangelo’s “Last Judgement” looked down on the assembled cardinals as they began singing the Latin hymn Veni Creator Spiritus (“Come Creator Spirit”) to invoke divine inspiration for the task ahead.