 When an incumbent dies, his successor is sought in the general population by certain criteria considered to indicate that the reincarnated Dalai Lama has been found, a process which typically takes two to four years to find the infant boy.In the Catholic Church, there are prescribed procedures to be followed in the case of vacancy of the papacy or a bishopric.In republics, the requirement to ensure continuity of operations at all times has resulted in most offices having some formalized order of succession.