Cardinals assemble to elect pope and set course for church

All 133 Catholic cardinals who will vote for a new pope have arrived in Rome, the Vatican said Monday, two days before they gather in conclave to elect the next head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

Hailing from 70 countries across five continents, the group — summoned following the death of Pope Francis on April 21 — is the largest and the most international ever.

At stake is the direction of the Catholic Church, a 2,000-year-old institution with huge global influence but which is…