Black smoke and no Pope after first vote by Cardinals
The 115 cardinals designated to elect a new Pope were unable to reach consensus on their first day of deliberation report the Telegraph's Rome correspondent Nick Squires and Religious Affairs editor John Bingham
After two hours of waiting, a great cloud of inky smoke billowed out of the
tiny chimney fixed to the terracotta roof of the Sistine Chapel, signalling
that the cardinals inside had not, with their first vote, chosen a new Pope.
There were cries from the thousands of people waiting below in St Peter's
Square, with the more devout kneeling on the wet, glistening cobbles, deep
in prayer.
Four giant television screens positioned around the piazza relayed live
pictures of the copper chimney.
(Reuters)
It was not much of a spectacle, but it kept a huge crowd transfixed, and was
watched around the world by millions of Catholics hoping for a worthy
successor to Benedict XVI.
The gushing black smoke was the dramatic climax to a day that began with a special mass in St Peter's Basilica and was followed by the towering twin doors of the Sistine Chapel thudding shut on the 115 cardinals inside as they began the conclave, the secretive process by which the new Pope will be elected.
The cardinals, from six continents, will not leave the walls of the Vatican or be permitted any contact with the outside world until they have agreed, by a two-thirds majority, on a successor for Benedict XVI, who last month became the first pontiff since the Middle Ages to resign.
The conclave process got under way when the "princes of the church", resplendent in blood-red vestments and white lace, held a brief prayer in the Paoline Chapel, in the heart of the Vatican, before processing through the Sala Regia, the Regal Room, its walls hung with tapestries.
A dozen Swiss Guards, their helmets topped with scarlet plumes, snapped to attention and presented arms, hoisting their long wooden-shafted halberds onto their shoulders.
Led by prelates holding candles and a crucifix, the cardinals then walked slowly into the Sistine Chapel, which takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who had it built between 1477 and 1480.
They sang the Litany of Saints, a Gregorian chant which invokes the intercession of the saints and the Holy Spirit to help them pick a pope.
Each cardinal bowed as he approached the altar, situated beneath Michelangelo's The Last Judgment, which luridly portrays tortured souls being consigned to eternal damnation by wild-eyed demons.
Giovanni Battista Re, the presiding cardinal, told the cardinals in Latin that they would have to "observe with the greatest fidelity secrecy regarding everything that in any way relates to the election of the Roman Pontiff".
(AP)
Responding in Latin, each one placed his hand on the Bible to "promise, pledge and swear" to keep the oath.
Monsignor Guido Marini, the Vatican's master of liturgical ceremonies, then announced "Extra omnes" – Latin for "Everyone out".
Prelates and officials filed out of the 15th century chapel, its frescoed walls and ceiling built to the exact same dimensions as the first Holy Temple constructed in Jerusalem by King Solomon.
Monsignor Marini then heaved the double doors closed and locked them from the inside.
Closed off from the world, the cardinals later cast their first vote in the papal election, sliding their folded paper ballots into a silver urn.
The papers were burned in a special stove that has been installed in the corner of the chapel, producing the black smoke.
White smoke would have signalled to the world's 1.2 billion Catholics "Habemus Papam" – We have a Pope.
Earlier in the day a special Mass in St Peter's Basilica called "Pro eligendo Romano Pontificie" – had attracted thousands of worshippers to the church – those not seated almost an hour beforehand had to crowd into arches and recesses – to watch the cardinals process solemnly up to the shrine of St Peter.
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, figure at the center of the stage (AP)
The formality of the occasion was broken with warm and sustained applause for the now Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, when Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, urged the congregation to give thanks for the "brilliant Pontificate that he granted to us."
When the cardinals processed out of the giant basilica, on the last occasion they would be seen in public, worshippers clambered over chairs to take photographs of them – and the future Pope, whoever he might be – with mobile phones and iPads.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, now the Archbishop Emeritus of Westminster, gave an insight into what it was like to take part in the conclave.
"It's an extraordinary moment. You all process in. Then one of the cardinals says 'omnes extra"," he told the BBC.
"The preacher and others all went out and I heard the thud of the door of the Sistine Chapel. I remember looking around at all of the other 114 cardinals and thinking: 'One of us will be going out with a white cassock on.'"
Unlike this time, in 2005 there was a strong favourite from the start and the cardinals took just two days to elect Joseph Ratzinger as Pope.
"When the majority was reached ... there was a gasp all around, and then everyone clapped," Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor said.
A nun keepineg an eye on the chimney (Getty Images)
There wereno gasps last night. Instead as the crowds left St Peter's last night clutching umbrellas and wrapping themselves up against the cold, they knew that they will be back today, possibly tomorrow, perhaps even the next day – as long as it takes for the 115 princes of the church to elect the 266th Pope.
The gushing black smoke was the dramatic climax to a day that began with a special mass in St Peter's Basilica and was followed by the towering twin doors of the Sistine Chapel thudding shut on the 115 cardinals inside as they began the conclave, the secretive process by which the new Pope will be elected.
The cardinals, from six continents, will not leave the walls of the Vatican or be permitted any contact with the outside world until they have agreed, by a two-thirds majority, on a successor for Benedict XVI, who last month became the first pontiff since the Middle Ages to resign.
The conclave process got under way when the "princes of the church", resplendent in blood-red vestments and white lace, held a brief prayer in the Paoline Chapel, in the heart of the Vatican, before processing through the Sala Regia, the Regal Room, its walls hung with tapestries.
A dozen Swiss Guards, their helmets topped with scarlet plumes, snapped to attention and presented arms, hoisting their long wooden-shafted halberds onto their shoulders.
Led by prelates holding candles and a crucifix, the cardinals then walked slowly into the Sistine Chapel, which takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who had it built between 1477 and 1480.
They sang the Litany of Saints, a Gregorian chant which invokes the intercession of the saints and the Holy Spirit to help them pick a pope.
Each cardinal bowed as he approached the altar, situated beneath Michelangelo's The Last Judgment, which luridly portrays tortured souls being consigned to eternal damnation by wild-eyed demons.
Giovanni Battista Re, the presiding cardinal, told the cardinals in Latin that they would have to "observe with the greatest fidelity secrecy regarding everything that in any way relates to the election of the Roman Pontiff".
(AP)
Responding in Latin, each one placed his hand on the Bible to "promise, pledge and swear" to keep the oath.
Monsignor Guido Marini, the Vatican's master of liturgical ceremonies, then announced "Extra omnes" – Latin for "Everyone out".
Prelates and officials filed out of the 15th century chapel, its frescoed walls and ceiling built to the exact same dimensions as the first Holy Temple constructed in Jerusalem by King Solomon.
Monsignor Marini then heaved the double doors closed and locked them from the inside.
Closed off from the world, the cardinals later cast their first vote in the papal election, sliding their folded paper ballots into a silver urn.
The papers were burned in a special stove that has been installed in the corner of the chapel, producing the black smoke.
White smoke would have signalled to the world's 1.2 billion Catholics "Habemus Papam" – We have a Pope.
Earlier in the day a special Mass in St Peter's Basilica called "Pro eligendo Romano Pontificie" – had attracted thousands of worshippers to the church – those not seated almost an hour beforehand had to crowd into arches and recesses – to watch the cardinals process solemnly up to the shrine of St Peter.
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, figure at the center of the stage (AP)
The formality of the occasion was broken with warm and sustained applause for the now Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, when Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, urged the congregation to give thanks for the "brilliant Pontificate that he granted to us."
When the cardinals processed out of the giant basilica, on the last occasion they would be seen in public, worshippers clambered over chairs to take photographs of them – and the future Pope, whoever he might be – with mobile phones and iPads.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, now the Archbishop Emeritus of Westminster, gave an insight into what it was like to take part in the conclave.
"It's an extraordinary moment. You all process in. Then one of the cardinals says 'omnes extra"," he told the BBC.
"The preacher and others all went out and I heard the thud of the door of the Sistine Chapel. I remember looking around at all of the other 114 cardinals and thinking: 'One of us will be going out with a white cassock on.'"
Unlike this time, in 2005 there was a strong favourite from the start and the cardinals took just two days to elect Joseph Ratzinger as Pope.
"When the majority was reached ... there was a gasp all around, and then everyone clapped," Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor said.
A nun keepineg an eye on the chimney (Getty Images)
There wereno gasps last night. Instead as the crowds left St Peter's last night clutching umbrellas and wrapping themselves up against the cold, they knew that they will be back today, possibly tomorrow, perhaps even the next day – as long as it takes for the 115 princes of the church to elect the 266th Pope.
