We don’t know who will be pope, but he already has a full calendar

Pope Francis' successor has not yet been elected, but his schedule is already packed for the coming days, weeks, and months.

I.MEDIA takes a look at what's to come:

Wednesday, May 7, will mark the start of the conclave that will give the Catholic Church a new pope. If the cardinals agree as quickly as they did in the conclaves of 2005 and 2013, the Church will have a pope by Thursday.

The day after his election, the new pontiff will celebrate the closing Mass of the conclave with the cardinal electors in the Sistine Chapel. In 2013, it was broadcast live by the Vatican media.

The date of another celebration will have to be chosen quickly: the Mass of the pope's inauguration in St. Peter's Square. Traditionally held on the Sunday following the election, it was celebrated on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, by Pope Francis, on the solemnity of St. Joseph.

Read about that below:

If the pope is elected on Thursday or Friday, this Mass could be postponed to Sunday, May 18, as this solemn celebration requires a certain amount of organization, a cardinal told I.MEDIA.

The next pope could also choose to celebrate this Mass on Tuesday, May 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.

In the first weeks of his pontificate, the pope will also have to take “possession of the Chair of the Bishop of Rome” during a Mass in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, his cathedral. Twelve years ago, Francis went to his cathedral on April 7 (after his March 13 election.)

It should be noted that, on Sunday, May 11, the pope may appear at the window of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican to lead the prayer of the Regina Caeli and address a message to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.

In addition, the general audiences on Wednesdays in St. Peter's Square are expected to resume on May 14 or 21. Pope Francis was also doing some Saturday audiences for the Jubilee of Hope. It will be up to the new pope whether those continue.

The new Bishop of Rome is expected to reserve his first audience for all cardinals, both electors and non-electors. In 2013, Francis received them the day after the closing Mass of the conclave in the Clementine Hall of the Vatican.

Tradition also dictates that the pope grants an audience to all journalists who covered the conclave — there were 6,000 in 2013. Pope Francis met with them in the Paul VI Hall on March 16, three days after his election.

The new pope will have two other important audiences in the days following his election. One will be with representatives of Churches and different religions. The other will be with the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. At the moment, 184 states have diplomatic relations with the Holy See.

The new pope will have to take up the baton from Francis, who had invited thousands of Catholics to Rome for the 2025 Jubilee. On May 10 and 11, Rome will host the Jubilee of Musical Ensembles. According to Francis' plan, the pope was supposed to meet with pilgrims from each jubilee during a Mass or audience. But in the absence of a pope, the Vatican has given no indication of what will happen next.

Next will come the Jubilee of the Eastern Churches (May 12-14), the Jubilee of Confraternities (May 16-18), and the large Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents, and the Elderly (May 30-June 1).

In June, seven jubilees are scheduled, including that of sport (June 14-15), government officials (June 20-22), seminarians (June 23-24), priests (June 25-27) and bishops (June 25). In the space of a few weeks, the new pope will thus be able to address the diversity of the Catholic Church that has come on pilgrimage to pass through the “Holy Doors” of the Roman basilicas.

This summer, the new Bishop of Rome will meet hundreds of thousands of young pilgrims from July 28 to August 3 for the Jubilee of Youth. Sometimes described as a “mini World Youth Day,” this event is one of the highlights of the “Holy Year” in Rome.

It is on this occasion that the future pope will celebrate the canonization of the young Italian Pier Giorgio Frassati. The canonization of Carlo Acutis, postponed due to the death of Pope Francis, could also take place during this jubilee.

Pope Francis had said he would visit Turkey to participate in celebrations for the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, modern-day Iznik, a city near Istanbul. He was to be accompanied by Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, and it would have followed just a month after the joint celebration of Easter, which fell this year on the same date for both East and West.

The trip, which was never officially confirmed by the Holy See, was scheduled to take place around May 24. According to a source consulted by I.MEDIA, it seems that the election of the future pope is too close to the event in order to make it possible.

However, the next pope may decide to go later in the year and begin his pontificate under the banner of dialogue with Christian churches and the search for unity.

The “Synod on Synodality” — a major reflection process launched in 2021 —concluded last October. But the work remains to be done, as Pope Francis had established 10 working groups to study certain sensitive issues, such as shared governance, seminary reform, and women's access to the diaconate.

These groups are due to report back in June. The future pope could then give his guidance on how to proceed. This is all the more likely given that, a few weeks before his death, the Argentine pontiff decided from the hospital to extend the synodal process until 2028. His successor is therefore unlikely to shelve Francis' spirit of reform.

During his hospitalization, Pope Francis announced that he would convene a consistory dedicated to two causes for canonization at a date yet to be determined. The new pope will therefore have to gather the cardinals present in Rome to confirm the new saints — José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros (Venezuela) and Bartolo Longo (Italy). He could then announce their dates of canonization, potentially in the fall.

Further, the canonizations of three people were approved by Pope Francis on March 31, including the first female saint of Venezuela, the first saint of Papua New Guinea, and an Armenian archbishop who was a victim of the 1915 genocide. The dates for their canonizations were never set. They are: Blessed Maria del Monte Carmelo, Blessed Peter To Rot, and Archbishop Ignatius Choukrallah Maloyan.

“I intend to prepare a letter or apostolic exhortation dedicated to children,” Francis announced 10 days before entering the Gemelli Polyclinic in February. The new pope may wish to continue his predecessor's project and address young children and their parents.

In 2013, Pope Francis took up Benedict XVI's work and published the encyclical Lumen fidei four months after his election.

According to our information, Pope Francis also had plans to publish an apostolic exhortation on the poor. The future pope could once again follow in his predecessor's footsteps by taking up his drafts and finishing this work.

Another event will be celebrated in the Catholic Church on December 8: the 60th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council. Reflections on the Council's impact were discussed during the general congregations.

The end of 2025 also promises to be a busy time for Francis' successor. The thematic jubilees will continue, with three in September, October, and November, and one in December: the Jubilee for Prisoners.

The pope will close the “Holy Door” of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome on January 6, 2026. This celebration will mark the end of the Holy Year.

But then, it won't be long before attention turns forward a few years: The next Jubilee of the Catholic Church will take place in 2033, the year that will mark the 2,000th anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This could be a symbolic milestone for the next pontiff, just as John Paul II made the transition to the year 2000 a key focus of his pontificate.