The second smoke

For the second day in a row, a large part of the world is on 'smoke watch'.  Outside the Sistine Chapel, in Saint Peter's Square, crowds gathered last night in Rome, even though it is very rare that a successful election of the Pontiff should take place after the first round of voting, and as expected, the smoke was thick and black.

The morning programme for the Cardinal electors began with the celebration of the daily Mass inside the Pauline Chapel at 8:15am Rome time, after which they proceeded to the Sistine Chapel for the first of the day's rounds of voting.

On the second day of voting, the smoke appeared for the first time at 11:37am (Rome time).  Unlike last night's vote, there were ballots and notes from two diffeent voting sessions (since the Cardinals vote twice in a row during each of the morning and evening sessions from today onward).  Therefore there are twice as many ballots being burned this morning, and the custom since the 2005 Conclave is that the fire tenders also add capsules of chemicals which combine with the smoke being emitted by the burning paper to create the black smoke.

This morning's smoke is grey in colour, and not the definitive black that last night's smoke announced, however the lithmus test will be whether or not the bells of Saint Peter's Basilica begin to ring (which would announce the completion of a successful election).  If there is silence, we must wait for the afternoon smoke.

Now that the morning voting sessions are complete, the Cardinals will pray mid-morning prayer and then they will move to the Domus Sanctae Martae for lunch.  The discussions will no doubt continue over and around the tables, and perhaps some of the 'campaigning' will take on another tone.

The fourth and fifth rounds of voting will begin this afternoon around 4:30 or 5:00pm local time in the eternal city.  That means that we will see the smoke again sometime this afternoon.  Stay tuned.