France, May 7 -- With the conclave to elect the new pope beginning in Vatican City on Wednesday, following the death of Francis I on 21 April, we look at the contenders from around the world to succeed him and become the 267th pope.

The conclave will see 133 cardinals from 71 countries -all of them under 80, the upper age limit for voting - gather in the Sistine Chapel to elect the new pope, head of the Catholic Church and leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholic faithful.

In theory any baptised male Catholic can be elected as pope, but the last time a non-cardinal was picked was Pope Urban VI in 1378.

TheVatican does not release a list of candidates and there is no official campaigning allowed, so speculation about who will succeed ...