JOHN YANG: Today's funeral and burial marked the beginning of nine days official mourning at the Vatican.

Cardinals will lead masses each day and the words of their homilies, their reflections on the scripture readings that day, will undoubtedly be closely examined and analyzed for clues about what's on their minds as they prepare to elect a new pope.

John Allen has covered the Vatican for 30 years.

He's editor of Crux, an online site that covers the Vatican and the Catholic Church.

John, practically all the cardinals who are eligible to vote.

That means the cardinals who are under the age of 80 were at today's funeral.

They'll be in Rome leading up to the conclave.

In those days, are they going to be talking to each other, either formally or informally, about who they might see as the next pope?

JOHN ALLEN, The Crux: Oh, absolutely.

They'll be talking to one another about who they see as the next pope.

That is, after all, the business they have been called to Rome to perform.

And so in these daily meetings of cardinals for their meeting every morning, called the General Congregation meetings, some of that is procedural, but some of it allows cardinals the opportunity to talk to one another about what they see as the issues facing the church, to sort through where the church stands and where these cardinals believe it needs to go.

JOHN YANG: Specifically, at this time right now, what are some of the considerations the cardinals will be thinking about?

JOHN ALLEN: I think fundamentally, the issue that facing every conclave is do you want to keep going in terms of the papacy that just ended, or do you want to try something else?

But beyond that, there is a complicated sort of bushel basket full of issues they'll be looking at from geopolitics.

We're entering an era where old alliances seem to be falling apart and new ones are coming into view.

And they'll want somebody who can steer the church safely through those storms, to internal church debates over contentious matters such as women and outreach to the LGBTQ community, to more broad social concerns such as migration and climate change and poverty, really trying to come to some sort of rough consensus.

And of course, when you have 135 alpha males, each with strong views about the church, reaching that kind of compromise, well, that's a delicate art.

JOHN YANG: The viewership of the movie "Conclave" spiked after the news of Pope Francis death.

I think a lot of people think because they've seen the movie, they know what a conclave is.

You've written a book about conclaves.

How close is it to what actually happens?

JOHN ALLEN: I've been telling people that taking the movie "Conclave" as a guide to a real papal election is like taking that zany 80s Mel Brooks comedy Spaceballs as a guide to real space travel.

This is old world politics, where everything is far more genteel and indirect and subtle.

Now, don't get me wrong, and let's not be naive.

There is real political sausage being ground during this period.

But this isn't the Iowa caucus.

This is politics, Vatican style.

JOHN YANG: The cardinals go into the conclave with a candidate in mind or a group of candidates, likely candidates in mind.

JOHN ALLEN: Now, often cardinals do file into the Sistine Chapel with a fairly strong sense for whom they intend to cast their vote.

I mean, bear in mind the last two conclaves, that is the conclave of 2005 that elected Pope Benedict XVI and the conclave of 2013 that elected Pope Francis.

Both of those were over in about a day and a half.

Now, that would be completely impossible if it weren't for the fact that a number of cardinals had made up their minds before they actually went into the Sistine Chapel about which way they wanted to go.

JOHN YANG: I know you said this isn't the Iowa caucuses, but is it possible to handicap the potential popes, the likely people who could be pope?

JOHN ALLEN: Well, you know, there's an old Roman saying that he who enters a conclave as a pope exits as a cardinal, meaning sometimes getting that kind of talk does you more harm than good.

But that said, we can look at the reputations cardinals have held over the years, the significance of the positions, that is the jobs that they have held.

One odds on favorite, and somebody who certainly will get a very serious look would be Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who was the Secretary of State, that is the top aide and the top diplomat under Pope Francis, who would be seen as somebody who would in some ways carry forward the Francis legacy, but is an extraordinarily stable, careful, measured man.

And given what's happening in the world, that's a prescription.

I think a number of cardinals might find attractive.

JOHN YANG: John Allen in Rome, thank you very much.

JOHN ALLEN: You're welcome.