After the men who will select the next pope were locked inside the Sistine Chapel without cellphones on Wednesday, the only thing left to do was wait for them to send a signal to the outside world. By smoke.
The highly secret voting began inside what is possibly one of the world’s most secure vaults in the early evening, with the 133 cardinals tasked with deciding who will succeed Pope Francis writing candidates’ names on voting cards by hand, trying to disguise their handwriting.
Outside in St. Peter’s Square, thousands of the faithful, the curious and the vacationing gathered to await the news of whether the cardinals had managed to elect a papal successor. Word came at 9 p.m., in the form of black smoke billowing from a chimney installed last week on the roof of the chapel.
If the smoke had been white, it would have meant that the cardinals had chosen the first new pope in a dozen years in just one round of voting, a feat not seen for centuries.
But the black smoke, created when the cardinals’ ballots are incinerated in a cast-iron stove, means they’ll have to try again.
“We are cold, we’re hungry, we’re thirsty but yet we can’t move,” said the Rev. Peter Mangum, 61, a priest at the Church of Jesus the Good Shepherd in Monroe, La. He and three other priests had been in the square for about seven hours, and it was Father Mangum’s fourth time waiting for news of a new pope.
He had stood in the same spot for the elections of John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis, and he wasn’t going to budge until he knew Wednesday’s news. “We had to make sure the smoke was black,” he said.
It took two days to elect Pope Francis in 2013 and Benedict XVI in 2005. No conclave in the 20th or 21st centuries has lasted more than five days.
In an era when news travels instantly around the world, the patience-requiring wait for the smoke in St. Peter’s Square is a ritual that dates back to the 19th century.
For some, the anxiety was intense. “I think there’s more nervousness among the people outside than among the cardinals themselves,” said Tania Radesca, who arrived at the square at 1 p.m.
Ms. Radesca, who is from Venezuela, had volunteered to help during the Jubilee, a year of pilgrimage that happens every 25 years, and she arrived in Rome just over a month ago. She was in St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday and caught a final glimpse of Pope Francis in his popemobile.
He died a day later.
Those who arrived early to score spots at the barricades closest to the front of St. Peter’s Basilica draped flags from their home countries along the barriers and befriended each other as they settled in. Others camped out on yoga mats or picnic blankets.
Many had traveled a long way, specifically for the conclave. Rodrigo Pinto, 43, a retired karate instructor, flew 23 hours from Guatemala, landing on Tuesday afternoon and heading straight to St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday so he could wait for the first sign of smoke.
Mr. Pinto, who was wearing a rosary, said, “I want to be a part of something I have always seen on TV, in documentaries, on the internet.” After standing in the rain in the morning and under the hot sun in the afternoon, he said, “Three hours ago, it was like hell. Sorry, St. Peter.”
In a post office inside the square, Jennifer Raulli, 54, wrote postcards to her college-age children in the United States. She was in Rome on vacation with one of her daughters, who just graduated from Texas Christian University, and had gotten tickets to see Pope Francis say Mass on Wednesday. Instead, they arrived at the square to wait for the smoke that might herald the man who replaces him.
“It is going to be a long couple of hours, but I would not miss it,” said Ms. Raulli, who had traveled from Pasadena, Calif. Ms. Raulli, who was raised Presbyterian and converted to Catholicism when she was 37, said she would prefer a “more conservative” pope because she would like the church to be “less politicized” and close to her vision of biblical teachings.
The day of waiting began at 10 a.m. when Giovanni Battista Re, the spry, 91-year-old dean of the College of Cardinals, presided over a Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica and implored the voting cardinals to choose “a pope who knows how best to awaken the consciences of all, and the moral and spiritual energies in today’s society.”
As the cardinals gave each other the sign of peace during the service, Cardinal Re hugged Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state under Francis and considered a leading candidate to succeed him. A microphone caught Cardinal Re wishing Cardinal Parolin best wishes.
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, another potential candidate who appeared with a fresh haircut, warmly shook his peers’ hands. Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, the archbishop of Marseille and also considered a papal contender, stopped for a prayer in front of the reliquary containing the remains of Pope John XXIII — a hero to many liberal Catholics for his efforts to modernize the church.
After lunch at the Casa Santa Marta, the lodging house inside the Vatican where the electors will stay throughout the conclave, the cardinals walked to the Sistine Chapel. As they proceeded into the chapel, they chanted the Litany of the Saints, while a choir hauntingly invoked the names of the saints. The cardinals replied with “Ora pro nobis,” or “Pray for us.” Outside in the square, many watching on the large video screens flanking the basilica swayed and echoed the cardinals’ chant.
Inside the Sistine Chapel, name tags for the cardinals had been placed on the long tables where they would vote. Francis named many more cardinals than his two predecessors, some from countries far from the Vatican, and many of the papal electors — and potential popes — do not know one another.
Around 5:45 p.m., Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, the master of pontifical liturgical celebrations, announced “extra omnes,” a Latin phrase that means “everybody out.” The giant wooden doors were closed, leaving the 133 cardinal electors — those under the age of 80 who can vote in the secret ballot — locked inside.
The cardinals will not be allowed to leave the Vatican until a two-thirds majority agrees on the next pope. Phones, internet, television and any contact from outside the Vatican walls are prohibited, a custom enforced to discourage the process from dragging on.
Some veteran electors believed there would be prolonged voting. “Bring a book,” Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York said he advised other cardinals, in an interview on Tuesday.
The conclave began 16 days after Francis’ death on April 21.
The significance of the moment was not lost even on those who had little knowledge of Catholicism.
Yuichiro Yamakoshi, 41, a Japanese tourist traveling with his wife, said that after touring the Vatican museums and walking through the doors of the four main basilicas that are usually open only during the Jubilee, he started to understand the power and influence of the faith. Although the couple had come to St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday with a guide, they returned on Wednesday morning for a commemorative photo marking the conclave.
As the black smoke dissipated into the sky, all there was to do was wait for another day.
Of all the people coincidentally in Rome for the start of the papal conclave on Wednesday, the pilgrims from St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Houston may have had among the most poignant stories. The 47 faithful who had traveled with their priest — also coincidentally named Francis — to Rome this week had scheduled a meeting with Pope Francis on Wednesday. Instead, they were in St. Peter’s Square during the final Mass before the conclave beginning later in the day.
One of the group, George Smith, 69, said, “It is a blessing for us.”
As a river of people streamed out of the square, a group of Romans who had been convinced the smoke would be white shook hands and hugged. “See you tomorrow!” they said.
Reporting was contributed by Emma Bubola, Elisabetta Povoledo, Jason Horowitz, Elizabeth Dias, Matthew Mpoke Bigg, Bernhard Warner and Josephine de La Bruyère.
