It was a cold and rainy night, but that cliche didn’t stop tens of thousands of people from pouring in to St. Peter’s Square to keep their eyes on a tiny chimney high atop a tiled roof.
Hours before the start of the conclave that will choose the next pope, the dean of the College of Cardinals celebrated the papacy as a source of unity among Catholics and of evangelization and charitable service to the world.
Online betting and trending sites were not the only outlets posting their papal predictions. Italian newspapers are historically the boldest and most confident in their daily speculations and conclave scenarios.
More black smoke poured from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel at 11:40 a.m. March 13, which seemed to indicate the 115 cardinal electors failed to elect a pope on their second and third ballots.
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires will be the 266th successor of St Peter and take the name Pope Francis I.
Here is the announced conclave schedule. Times listed are for Rome, with Eastern Daylight Time in parentheses …
Jesuit Father Norman Tanner, dean of church history at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, told reporters March 11 that the papal candidates from all over the world reveal the globalization of the church while the “preoccupation with the personality of popes” can often be unhealthy in choosing a new pontiff.
The first clue to the identity of the new pope will be the announcement of his first name — in Latin, in the accusative case … below this article is an alphabetical list of the cardinal electors’ first names in Latin, in the accusative case, which you can follow when its the announcement of the name of the new pope.
Though the Vatican has become increasingly savvy with more modern forms of communication, it’s still sticking with more primitive methods — swirling smoke and tolling bells — to announce whether a new pope has been elected.