White smoke poured from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and the great bells of St. Peter’s Basilica tolled Thursday after cardinals elected the 267th pope to lead the Catholic Church.
The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers, priests made the sign of the cross and nuns wept as the crowd shouted, “Viva il papa!” after the white smoke wafted into the late afternoon sky.
The smoke signal means the winner secured at least 89 votes of the 133 cardinals participating in the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis.
The name will be announced later, when a top cardinal utters the words “Habemus Papam!” – Latin for “We have a pope!” – from the loggia of the basilica. The cardinal then reads the winner’s birth name in Latin and reveals the name he has chosen to be called.
The new pope is then expected to make his first public appearance and impart a blessing from the same loggia.
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 preplanned 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.
“We are hoping for the white smoke tonight,” said Pedro Deget, 22, a finance student from Argentina. He said he and his family visited Rome during the Argentine pope’s pontificate and were hoping for a new pope in Francis’ image.
“Francis did well in opening the church to the outside world, but on other fronts maybe he didn’t do enough. We’ll see if the next one will be able to do more,” Deget said from the piazza.
The Rev. Jan Dominik Bogataj, a Slovene Franciscan friar, was more critical of Francis. He said if he were in the Sistine Chapel, he’d be voting for Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem who is on many papal contender lists.
“He has clear ideas, not much ideology. He’s a direct, intelligent and respectful man,” Bogataj said from the square. “Most of all, he’s agile.”
On Wednesday night, the 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 traveled 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.
The cardinals opened the secretive, centuries-old ritual Wednesday afternoon, participating in a rite more theatrical than even Hollywood could create. Bright red cassocks, Swiss Guards standing at attention, ancient Latin chants and oaths preceded the slamming shut of the Sistine Chapel doors to seal the cardinals off from the outside world.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the 70-year-old secretary of state under Francis and a leading contender to succeed him as pope, assumed leadership of the proceedings as the most senior cardinal under age 80 eligible to participate.
Parolin seemed to have received the blessings from none other than Re, the respected elder among the cardinals. During the traditional exchange of peace during the pre-conclave Mass on Wednesday, Re was caught on a hot mic telling Parolin “auguri doppio” or “double best wishes.” Italians debated whether it was just a customary gesture acknowledging Parolin’s role running conclave, or if it might have been an informal endorsement or even a premature congratulations.
The voting follows a strict choreography, dictated by church law.
Each cardinal writes his choice on a piece of paper inscribed with the words “Eligo in summen pontificem” – “I elect as supreme pontiff.” They approach the altar one by one and say: “I call as my witness, Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who, before God, I think should be elected.”
The folded ballot is placed on a round plate and tipped into a silver and gold urn. Once cast, the ballots are opened one by one by three different “scrutineers,” cardinals selected at random who write down the names and read them aloud.
The scrutineers, whose work is checked by other cardinals called revisers, then add up the results of each round of balloting and write them on a separate sheet of paper, which is preserved in the papal archives.
As the scrutineer reads out each name, he pierces each ballot with a needle through the word “Eligo.” All the ballots are then bound together with thread, and the bundle is put aside and burned in the chapel stove along with a chemical to produce the smoke.
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