VATICAN CITY: Firefighters installed the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel on Friday which will emit white smoke to signal the election of a new pope as preparations proceed just five days before cardinals gather for the conclave. Some 133 Catholic cardinals will gather below Michelangelo's famed frescoes in the 15th-century chapel, situated inside the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican, to elect a successor to Pope Francis.
Held behind locked doors, the conclave will signal to the world the outcome by burning ballots in a special stove, with the chimney emitting black smoke if no one has been elected, or white smoke if there is a new pope. Cardinals from around the world have been called back to Rome following the death on April 21 of Francis, an energetic reformer from Argentina who led the Catholic Church for 12 years. All but four of the cardinal electors — those aged under 80 — who can vote in the conclave are already in Rome, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.
Ahead of the election, cardinals of all ages have been meeting daily at the Vatican to discuss the challenges facing the next head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics. Friday's meeting emphasised spreading the Catholic faith, the need for unity and the risk of "counter-witness" — problems such as financial scandals — among other issues, Bruni told reporters.
Among the crowds of tourists and pilgrims in St Peter's Square on Friday, the installation of the chimney on the Sistine Chapel — a thin metal tube with a capped top — went largely unnoticed. But many were aware that history was in the making.
There are 135 cardinals eligible to vote in the conclave, but two have withdrawn for health reasons. These were Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, Archbishop emeritus of Valencia in Spain, and Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop emeritus of Nairobi in Kenya, the Vatican confirmed. The conclave is due to begin at 4:30 pm (1430 GMT) on Wednesday, where the cardinals will take an oath to maintain the secrecy of the election, on pain of excommunication. That first day they will hold one ballot, with the winner needing a two-thirds majority, or 89 votes, to win. During the following days they will hold two votes in the morning and two in the afternoon. — AFP
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