Once the cardinals close in the Sistine Chapel so that the vote of the next Pope can begin, the eyes outside become a chimney that leaves the chapel, clearly visible from the Plaza de San Pedro in the city of the Vatican. It will release a column of white smoke if a Pope has chosen bone, and the black smoke if no candidate has won the request of two thirds of most votes.
It is a tradition that academics date from the nineteenth century, when we agree to them were heroes in the Quirinal Palace, the papal palace of the city that is now the home of the Italian President.
In “Behind Locked Doors,” A 2003 History of Papal Elections, Frederic J. Baumgartner Wrote That The First Evidence I have founded as a signal in a papal election was from 1823. The cardinals’ buts were burned was the buts burned burned burned burned burned burned murned murned burned burned burned burned burned burned burned burned burned m Burned Burned Burned, But There Burned, But’s Butned, But. The smoke intended to inform the outside world of a new lake.
The smoke comes from the burning of the ballots, as well as any note that the cardinals have tasks, which are placed in a cast iron stove after each voting round. (A round is a hero the first day, and four every day from then on, with two in the morning and two in the afternoon). The tickets are burned after two voting rounds, unless a Pope is chosen.
Until this century, wet straw was added to the stove to create the white color of the smoke. But it was not always reliable.
As the New York Times reported to the 1958 conclave, the white smoke seemed to appear twice the duration of the second day of voting. That created confusion because, in fact, a Pope had not yet selected not the leg.
A reporter of the Times described the frenzy of St. Peter’s: “The newspapers in the square made a launch for the nearest phone”, and the guests at a wedding inside the basilica crashed into Outide, “leaving the bride and the boyfriend alone.”
But it was a false alarm. The confusion in that conclave, which chose Pope John XXIII, led to conspiracy theories that another cardinal had been the true winner.
In 1978, the cartridges were first used to improve the white or black color of the duration of the smoke the conclave that chose Juan Paul I. When he died suddenly 33 days after being chosen, the cartridges were successor, John Paul.
That method was also an imperfect science. In the case of John Paul I, a fun video of the time shows panic journalists while the white smoke of the fireplace becomes black. “You can’t understand anything,” shouts an exhausted reporter on a phone. The Vatican then announced that a Pope had been chosen.
For 2005, when John Paul II died, a more reliable system was devised that remains in use today. Now an electronic control unit is placed that resembles a stove next to the cast iron stove: they share the fireplace cartridges to burn that colo the smoke of the tickets.
Massimiliano de Sanctis, an artificial expert, customized one of his fireworks machines for the Vatican, and was used for the 2005 conclave who chose Benedict XVI and the 2013 conclave that chose Francis.
“We don’t invent anything new,” he said in an interview. “It is the system used for fireworks.”
The black or black smoke cartridges are placed in the unit, and when the ballots are burned in the cast iron stove, a cardinal presses a button to activate the cartridges in the unit, coloring the smoke. For each vote, six cartridges are used, and the smoke lasts about seven minutes, said Mr. Sanctis.
After the confusion of the past, the Vatican does not risk: once the white smoke leaves the fireplace, the bells will begin to repress from the Basilica of San Pedro, calling other churches in Rome also to sound their bells.
