The anticipation had been built in the Plaza de San Pedro on Thursday morning when people began to think seriously that the cardinals would choose a new Pope. But when the first smoke of the day arrived, just before, it was black, which indicates that there was still no consensus within the Sistine Chapel, where the cardinals voted.
Because the last two agrees to choose Francis and Benedict XVI lasted two days, many of the faithful and tourists who stir around the square when a light morning rain became a bright sun, not the noil on Thursday.
So, when the black smoke arrived in Diday, most was not so surprised, training their cell phones on the giant screens that flank the square where they could see the smoke coming out of the chimney.
Judith Duru, 22 years old, a nursing student in Rome from Nigeria, filmed the smoke on the screen because he could not see the real smoke from where he was stopped.
She said she trusted the cardinals to select a “Pope with a good heart, who can take care of his people, understand his people.” Althegh she comes from a continent with a rapid Catholic population, she said she didn’t care about where the new Pope came from.
“I don’t do politics and religion,” he said. “I don’t care” where Hey comes from, he added. “A good Pope will touch everyone.”
Before the first smoke signal of the day, Joaquín Cáceres, 30, and Lucía Pérez, 28, Argentines who live in Spain, said they had made a bet on Wednesday night after the first Penacho of Sixtine.
“He thinks this morning, in the third vote,” Pérez said.
“She thinks this afternoon, in the fifth vote, like Francis,” said Cáceres.
Althegh Neinder had a favorite contender, both said they expected the cardinals to do it because continuing Francis’s work.
“The conclave and the Holy Spirit always work in a mysterious way,” Pérez said. “But they don’t make a deaf ear to what people say.”
The crowd on Thursday morning was decidedly smaller than the thousands of people who attended Wednesday night, probable because many Italians were working, but perhaps they also indicate expectations that white smoke. The crowd remained strongly international in Thorsday Morning, with flags around the world in sight.
Several spectators said they planned to stay all day, and came prepared.
Philipp and Kathrin Wilmes, tourists from Germany, accumulated their tourism until Monday and Tuesday so they could wait six hours in the Plaza de San Pedro on Wednesday to see the smoke. On Thursday, Mr. Wilmes, 45, had covered his face with sunscreen waiting for another long day. He and his wife, 39, had jackets, bread and water in their backpacks because they said they did not plan to move from their place against the barrier closest to the basilica. The couple had tickets to fly back to Germany on Friday and waited for an choice before that.
Maciej Czaharyn, 33, who is Polish but lives in Iceland, spent seven hours in the square on Wednesday. “I was standing all the time,” he said. “But it was worth sacrifice.”
On Thursday, Mr. Czahanyn brought a thin cushion to sit on the floor and a grocery bag full of electrolytic drinks, chocolate cookies and cigarettes, “even though you can’t smoke here,” he said.
A group of second -year students from the University of Dallas, a Catholic school, had been studying near Marino, Italy, this year and extended their stay for the conclave. They sat in a circle on the floor playing a card game. They had a large bag of cookies with chocolate sparks and sandwich fixations.
Some Italians also found their way to San Pedro.
Flavia Valle, 16, who was lying in the cobblestones not far from the barrier closest to the basilica, said that she and several friends were going to jump high school.
“I want to see the Pope go out,” he said, pointing out the balcony framed by the thick red velvet curtains where the new pontiff traditionally makes a first place once the white smoke points to his choice.
She said she waited for another charismatic Pope in Francis’s mode. “He spoke with the boys, the people of my age,” he said. “I liked it.”
