The first day of the conclave to elect the next pope of the Catholic Church is set to begin Tuesday, and the secretive selection process has led church officials to take some extreme measures to keep intruders out of the closed door sessions at the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City.
According to The Washington Post, the small sovereign state located within the busy metropolis of Rome is an internet dead zone. Reports say that Vatican City officials have installed "jamming devices" to disrupt internet service on cellphones, mobile devices, and even potentially hidden microphones.
WiFi will also be unavailable and religious leaders who are participating in the conclave are banned from using any type of social media.
The precautions were taken to ensure privacy for the 207 cardinals who will begin deliberations and hold several votes on the next leader of the roughly 1.2 billion practicing Catholics around the world. Church law does not allow cardinals over the age of 80 from partaking in the vote, and only 115 are eligible to cast a ballot during the conclave.
Among them are the following Twitter and Facebook users: Timothy M. Dolan of New York, Sean P. O'Malley of Boston, Gianfranco Ravasi of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Odilo Scherer of Sao Paulo, Wilfrid Napier of Durban, South Africa, Lluis Martinez Sistach of Barcelona, Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota and Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles.
Besides the fancy tech gadgets, the Church will also rely on more traditional forms of guaranteeing secrecy, by oath. As the cardinals make their way into the chapel they will place their hands on texts from the Bible and will pledge an oath of secrecy. The same goes for the roughly 100 people assisting the proceedings, USA Today reports.
Those who break their silence will be punished with immediate excommunication.
The first vote will be taken at 5 p.m. tomorrow, but church histories say it is unlikely a decision will be reached until later this week.