Beyond simply picking who the next pope will be, players and gamblers also can guess how many tries it will take the cardinals to choose the leader, which day of the week he’ll be elected, what new name he will decide on, or where his priorities will land on the progressive-conservative scale.

If Roman Catholic cardinals have not picked a new pope by day three of next week's conclave, then things are not going to plan. Short conclaves wrapped up in a couple of days project an image of unity,

A cardinal predicted that the selection process “will be short” for the next pope to succeed the late Pope Francis, who died April 21 at age 88 after months of health complications. Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chávez of El Salvador told ABC News on Friday that the Vatican is looking for “Francis 2” in a successor as cardinals prepare to kick off the conclave week.