Preparations for the conclave to find a new pope accelerated Friday with the installation of the chimney out of the Sistine Chapel that will signal the election of a successor to Pope Francis.
Vatican firefighters were seen on the roof of the Sistine Chapel installing the chimney, a key moment in the preparation for the May 7 conclave.
After every two rounds of voting in the Sistine Chapel, the ballots of the cardinals are burned in a special furnace to indicate the outcome to the outside world.
If no pope is chosen, the ballots are mixed with cartridges containing potassium perchlorate, anthracene (a component of coal tar) and sulfur to produce black smoke. But if there is a winner, the burning ballots are mixed with potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin to produce the white smoke.
The white smoke came out of the chimney on the fifth ballot on March 13, 2013, and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was introduced to the world as Pope Francis a short time later from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. There were four ballots required for his predecessor, Benedict, and eight for John Paul II in 1978.
The chimney installation took place as cardinals arrived in the Vatican for another day of pre-conclave discussions about the needs of the Catholic Church going forward and the type of pope needed to run it.
These consultations include all cardinals, including those over age 80 who are ineligible to vote in the conclave itself.
Four Canadian cardinals are eligible to participate in the conclave: Thomas Collins, Michael Czerny, Francis Leo and Gérald Lacroix.
The process for selecting a new pope to lead more than one billion Catholics worldwide comes down to an ancient voting ritual, cloaked in secrecy. CBC’s Ellen Mauro explains how the conclave works.