Rumours, rock-star cardinals and street cleaning: Rome gets ready for conclave

She is a conclave novice, but was quick to suss out the cunning ways the cardinals try to avoid the gaggle of reporters. “Each one has his own strategy,” said Diéguez, who works for the Spanish radio station Cadena Ser and Mediaset España. Francis made a point of selecting cardinals from places where there had never previously been one, such as Myanmar, Haiti and Rwanda. The cardinals swear an oath of silence before each pre-conclave meeting and will do so again when the election begins. Cardinals who want to spread rumours tend to resort to the veteran Vatican reporters from the Italian press.