The schedules to know to follow the pope’s election

This Wednesday, May 7, the church is entering a strange period of great secrecy and silence. The pope’s election takes place behind closed doors in the sixtine chapel, without anything filter. The mass preceding the entry into conclave, known as “PRO ELIGENDO PONTIFICE»Stays in the morning.

At 3.45 p.m., the cardinals will go to the House Marthe house procession, where they live, at the Sistine Chapel, invoking the Holy Spirit.

10:30 a.m., 12 p.m., 5.30 p.m., 7 p.m.

A first voting round will be held this afternoon, The first smoke is expected around 8:30 p.m. tonight. If it is black: no pope has been elected. If it is white, it is because the majority of two thirds has been brought together to designate a new pontiff, a very unlikely hypothesis in the first round.

The following days, the cardinals will meet at 7.45 am at the apostolic palace to celebrate mass. Two towers will then take place in the morning and in the afternoon, but only one smoke is to wait on each half-day. If the first morning vote is conclusive, white smoke will appear around 10:30 amand the conclave will end. Otherwise, there will be no smoke after this first ballot, it will however be issued around noonafter the second round, white or black depending on the outcome of the election.

Same process for the afternoon: White smoke around 5.30 p.m. in the event of an electionor else Black or white smoke around 7 p.m.

If you want to follow the election, it is therefore 10:30 a.m., 12 p.m., 5.30 p.m. and 7 p.m. You have to light the radio or television.

Black smoke, white smoke, gray smoke

This smoke ritual has only existed since the 19th century. Previously, only the “Habemus papam” (“we have a pope”) was announced by a window of the palace of the Quirinal.

The smoke comes from the combustion of the cardinals’ voting bulletins – allowing at the same time to guarantee the secrecy of the vote. Historically, burned without additives, the bulletins gave black smoke. By adding wet straw, smoke came out white … or rather gray, creating a moment of confusion before taking its white color. In 1958, a chemical was therefore assistant to clarify the colors, and in 2015, the Vatican decided to double the white smoke signal by the bells of the basilica, which sounded at the time of the election.

And yet some historic misses

In 1978, during the election of Jean-Paul Ier, several smoke jets first white, then black, then again white, causing great confusion in the crowd gathered at Place Saint-Pierre. Rebelote in 2005, while the Vatican has just decided to use the bells, and these remain silent when a white plume rises on April 19. Simple clumsiness, it takes ten minutes for the bells to sound and confirm the election of Benoit XVI.