The Vatican Establishes “Papal Election Chimney”
Preparations in the Vatican have intensified for the secret gathering to choose a new pope this Friday, as firefighters installed a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, which will signal the election of a successor to Francis I with the emission of smoke.
Firefighters were observed on the roof of the Sistine Chapel securing the chimney, marking a critical moment in the preparations for the secret assembly scheduled for May 7.
After each two rounds of voting in the Sistine Chapel, the cardinals’ ballots are burned in a special furnace to indicate the outcome to the outside world.
If no pope is elected, the ballots are mixed with cartridges containing potassium perchlorate, anthracene (a component of coal tar), and sulfur to produce black smoke.
However, if there is a winner, the burned ballots are mixed with potassium chlorate, lactose, and chloroforom resin to generate white smoke.
White smoke emerged from the chimney on the fifth ballot on March 13, 2013, shortly before Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was presented to the world as Pope Francis from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Firefighters installed the chimney as the cardinals arrived in the Vatican for another day of discussions before the secret meeting, focusing on the future needs of the Catholic Church and the type of pope required to manage them.
These consultations involve all cardinals, including those over the age of eighty, who are eligible to vote in the secret assembly itself.
In recent days, they received reports regarding the Vatican’s poor financial situation, giving each of them the opportunity to discuss future priorities and the issues they identified during Pope Francis’s tenure.
