A shadowy process in which the participants are sworn to secrecy, the papal conclave would do well to learn from the levels of mystery and intrigue surrounding Andy Farrell’s final Lions selection meeting at an undisclosed location in London on Wednesday.
Telegraph Sport raises 13 topics that will determine the make-up of the squad, to be announced on Thursday afternoon.
Rule by debate or dictatorship?
As head coach, Farrell will have the final say on squad selection. The question is how much input will his assistants have? While Richard Wigglesworth, Simon Easterby, John Dalziel, Andrew Goodman, Johnny Sexton and John Fogarty are all fine individual coaches, this is not a cabinet of heavyweights like Ian McGeechan assembled in 2009 or Warren Gatland in 2017.