If the vote doesn't yield the two-third majority needed to elect the new pope, the cardinals go back to guesthouse Casa Santa Marta for dinner. It is then, on the sidelines of the voting process, that important conversations among the cardinals take place and consensus begins to coalesce around different names.

The United States is the home country for 10 of the 133 cardinals eligible to vote for the next pope. That’s more than any nation except Italy, home to 17 of the electors who will gather Wednesday for the Vatican conclave to choose the successor to Pope Francis.

Cardinals who will take part in the secret conclave to elect a new Catholic pope began checking into two Vatican hotels on Tuesday, where they will be barred from contact with the outside world as they decide who should succeed Pope Francis.