Diane Sawyer to Anchor ABC's THE PAPAL CONCLAVE: CHOOSING THE NEW POPE

ABC News will cover all of the events of the Papal Conclave, as over one billion Catholics across the world wait in anticipation to see who will be elected the next Pope. ABC News will provide extensive coverage of the selection process on "Good Morning America," "World News with Diane Sawyer," "Nightline," ABC News Radio and its digital platforms.

Beginning Monday, March 11, Diane Sawyer will anchor "ABC World News" from the Vatican. Sawyer will also lead "Good Morning America's" coverage, with Josh Elliott reporting from the St. Peters Square. Terry Moran will anchor "Nightline" from Rome beginning Monday evening.

When the conclave begins on Tuesday, March 12, Sawyer will anchor a special report from the Vatican to the ABC Television Network. After the first day, the cardinals HYPERLINK "http://abcnews.go.com/International/vatican-conclave-start-tuesday/story?id=18679522" will vote twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon - and ABC News will broadcast anchored reports to document each vote. Sawyer will be joined in Rome by:

Terry Moran, "Nightline" anchor
Josh Elliott, "GMA" news anchor
David Wright, who covered the death of Pope John Paul II and the selection of Pope Benedict XVI for ABC News in 2005
Cokie Roberts, ABC News contributor, will add a historical perspective. Roberts' mother served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican.
Ron Claiborne, "GMA" weekend news anchor
Cecilia Vega, ABC News correspondent
Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, John Thavis (author of The Pope Diaries), Father John Wauck and Sister Clare Pratt will provide their unique insights throughout the coverage.

ABC News Digital will provide complete coverage of the Papal Conclave. Special live stream coverage will be available throughout the week on HYPERLINK "http://abcnews.go.com/"ABCNews.com, HYPERLINK "http://gma.yahoo.com/"GoodMorningAmerica.com, ABC News' iPad & iPhone apps, ABC affiliate websites, as well as on ABC News Mobile properties. Editorial content will include live blog updates, video highlights from the top contenders for the papacy and photo slideshows. In addition, ABCNews.com will feature a rich multimedia experience with interactive graphics including:

The Conclave: Electing a Pope: An interactive that explains the conclave process with details on the election process, top contenders for the Pope and 3-D flyovers of Vatican City and the Sistine Chapel with highlighted points of interest.
The Conclave: Meet the Cardinals: A fun way to flip through the Papal candidates to learn more about each cardinal contender and their respective backgrounds.
The Pope and the Catholic Church: A graph measuring how other powerful individuals, such as Apple CEO Tim Cook, stack up against the power of the Pope.

ABC News Radio will provide extensive coverage of the Papal Conclave anchored by correspondent Aaron Katersky. He will be joined by correspondent Tom Rivers reporting from Rome. ABC News Radio will provide a special report each time the gathered cardinals vote. ABC News Radio will also provide two one-minute status reports each hour starting at 5:00 a.m., ET on Tuesday, March 12. Four status reports each hour will be provided once a new pope is selected. ABC News Radio will also provide live anchored coverage when the new pope is selected.

ABC NewsOne, the network's affiliate news service, will provide full coverage with live reports from Rome with ABC NewsOne correspondent Marci Gonzalez for more than 200 ABC affiliates, stations and clients.

Marc Burstein is the senior executive producer of ABC News Special Events.

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