This is more than a ceremonial gesture! It is a reminder to the entire church that we follow Christ, who is the incarnation of God's Word, testified to in the Scriptures (especially in the gospels).
(And by the way, some media have claimed that the Roman Catholic Church is today "leaderless." Not so! Jesus Christ is the head of his body, the Church. The cardinals will be electing the visible leader of our Church, but we are not by any means leaderless.)
