Black smoke after first two ballots, no Pope elected yet

Cardinals failed again Thursday morning to find a successor to Pope Francis, sending black smoke billowing up through the Sistine Chapel chimney after two more inconclusive rounds of conclave voting.

With no candidate securing the necessary two-thirds majority, or 89 votes, the world will need to wait longer for a new leader of the Catholic Church. The 133 cardinals took a lunch break before returning to the Sistine Chapel for Thursday’s afternoon voting session, where two more ballots were possible.

Despite the disappointment, hopes were still high that a pope would be chosen quickly, perhaps as early as Thursday afternoon’s fourth or fifth ballot.

“I hope by this evening, returning to Rome, I’ll find white smoke,” said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the 91-year-old dean of the College of Cardinals who presided over the Mass before the conclave. Re is not participating in the balloting because only cardinals under 80 are eligible to cast votes.

For the general public, the rhythm of the voting is dictated in many ways by the Vatican television cameras: You know a smoke signal is near when the cameras resume their fixed shot on the Sistine Chapel’s skinny chimney, with white smoke indicating a winner, and black meaning no consensus.

On Thursday, large school groups joined the mix of humanity awaiting the outcome in St. Peter’s Square. They blended in with people participating in pre-planned Holy Year pilgrimages and journalists from around the world who have descended on Rome to document the election.

“The wait is marvelous!” said Priscilla Parlante, a Roman.

On Wednesday night, the billowing black smoke of the first ballot poured out of the chapel chimney just after 9 p.m., about 4.5 hours after the cardinals filed into the Sistine Chapel to take their oaths at the start of the conclave. The late hour prompted speculation about what took so long: Did they have to redo the vote? Did someone get sick or need translation help? Did the papal preacher take a long time to deliver his meditation before the voting began?

“They probably need more time,” said Costanza Ranaldi, a 63-year-old who travelled from Pescara in Italy’s Abruzzo region to the Vatican.

Some of the cardinals had said they expected a short conclave. But if recent history is any guide, it will likely take a few rounds of voting to settle on the 267th pope.

For much of the past century, the conclave has needed between three and 14 ballots to find a pope. John Paul I — the pope who reigned for 33 days in 1978 — was elected on the fourth ballot. His successor, John Paul II, needed eight. Francis was elected on the fifth in 2013.


CHEMISTRY OF THE SMOKE

Tradition holds that black smoke indicates the cardinals have not yet agreed on a new leader, while white smoke signals that a new Pope has been elected. But what kind of smoke is it exactly? Let’s take a look at the science.

In 1274, at the Second Council of Lyons, Pope Gregory X determined the procedure for holding a conclave. He specified that the election would be done in strict secrecy. To avoid any communication with the outside, the smoke signal was eventually adopted as part of the ritual. 

The tradition of burning ballots goes back to at least 1417. However, it wasn’t until the 18th century — when a chimney was installed in the Sistine Chapel to protect Michelangelo’s frescoes from soot — that the resulting smoke became visible to anyone outside the chapel.

At the time, the smoke was not intended as a public signal, but once it was visible, onlookers began interpreting it as an indicator of the voting outcome.

The addition of the white spoke to announce the election of a new pope is more recent, to 1914, with the election of Pope Benedict XV.

In ancient times, the method to give the smoke these colors was to burn the ballots used in the voting with a bit of tar and wet straw so that it would come out black, or dry so as to obtain white smoke. 

Due to some episodes that caused confusion, special chemical compounds are now used, and a procedure that includes two different tubes, one for each color of smoke. 




(AP Photo Alessandra Tarantino)