Discussions around the next Pope are heating up.

Eighty-eight year old Pope Francis has been laid to rest after a funeral in front of St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on Saturday night.

One hundred and 35 cardinals will soon be locked in the Sistine Chapel to vote on his successor in secret - the candidates must be aged under 80.

Newstalk ZB's Jo McKenna, who's at St Peters' Square, told Ryan Bridge she's been told the Italians want to see a European Pope.

She says her source has told her they didn't like that an outsider from Argentina had come in and shaken things up, as they see it as a family business.

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