Cardinals failed to pick a new head of the Catholic Church on Thursday, as evidenced by the thick black smoke rising from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney.
Following the second and third ballots, the outcome was met with both cheers and groans from the thousands of Catholics and interested tourists gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
For the covert conclave on Wednesday night, the 133 cardinals who will choose Pope Francis’ successor to lead the 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide were confined.
Closed off from the outside world, they use the chimney of the frescoed 15th-century chapel to send smoke up and burn their ballot papers to show their progress.
White smoke indicates the election of the 267th pope, while black smoke indicates that no one has obtained the required two-thirds majority, or 89 votes.
The gathered throng were quite disappointed when the first black smoke appeared on Wednesday night, approximately three hours and fifteen minutes after the cardinals had closed.
However, a lot of people came back on Thursday, when two more ballots were held in the morning by the red-robed prelates. Unless a pope is elected sooner, they were planning to hold four more on Friday after two more in the afternoon.
“Anything they need to do to make the right decision, I don’t want it rushed,” stated 50-year-old Barbara Mason, who traveled from Canada for the conclave.
As a supporter of the environment and migrants, she hoped that the pope will follow Francis’s progressive path by “going forward, not going backward.”
Francis, a dynamic reformer from Argentina who spent 12 years as pope and worked to open up the Church, passed away on April 21 at the age of 88.
The Oath of Secrecy
In order to guarantee a position as near to St. Peter’s Basilica as possible—where the new pope would be introduced to the world from the balcony following the vote—40-year-old Paolo Cabrera of the Philippines arrived early at the Vatican with his wife Cynthia.
“Being here is really, really exciting,” he remarked.
The cardinal electors, who were all under 80, stayed overnight at the Santa Marta hotel and were supposed to attend a special service early on Thursday to receive divine inspiration before casting their ballots once more.
As Filipinos, they stated that they would be content with “anyone appointed by God,” but they were cheering for their countryman, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who was one of the favorites.
In the Sistine Chapel, beneath Michelangelo’s frescoes, each cardinal is required to write down their choice for pope on a ballot paper, which they then carry to the altar and place in a silver urn.
Following the counting process, the ballots are burned in a 1939 cast iron stove. A second, more recent stove that is attached to the same flue is given chemicals to color the smoke.
On Wednesday, the Vatican streamed live footage of their march inside the Sistine Chapel, including on screens in St. Peter’s Square. However, the feed stopped as soon as they locked.
In order to avoid excommunication, the cardinals were forced to put down their phones and swear not to divulge the conclave’s secrets. They will remain until they reach a decision.
Awaiting
Pope Francis was elected on five ballots in 2013, while Pope Benedict XVI was chosen on four ballots in 2005.
However, experts caution that the conclave in 2025, which will bring together cardinals from about 70 nations and be the biggest and most international ever, may take longer than expected.
Since the cardinals represent a variety of conservative and progressive Church traditions, there isn’t a clear front-runner to follow Francis.
The 2,000-year-old institution has many difficulties, and the newly elected pope will have to manage the Church’s deep divisions while treading carefully in the face of geopolitical unpredictability.
In addition, there are the ongoing repercussions of the worldwide clerical sex abuse scandal and the growing number of empty pews in the West.
Francis, an impetuous but tenacious advocate for the oppressed, appointed about 80 percent of the cardinals who cast ballots.
However, some cardinals desire a more conservative defender of doctrine, while others are hoping for a new pope to uphold and expand his legacy.
There are over a dozen names in circulation, including Malcolm Ranjith of Sri Lanka, Peter Erdo of Hungary, and Italian Pierbattista Pizzaballa.The 37-year-old Colombian Juan Benitez stated, “I think the Church is universal, so I don’t think there should be many divisions between liberals and conservatives in the church.”
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