Cardinals held an initial ballot on Tuesday night and had two more on Wednesday morning, with black smoke showing that both were inconclusive. Yesterday the electors filed into the chapel, chanting a Latin hymn to ask for divine guidance and swearing a solemn oath never to reveal the secrets of their deliberations on pain of excommunication.
During the conclave, the “princes of the Church” are cut off from any contact with the outside world. They eat and sleep in a Vatican residence where windows are locked shut and phones are for internal use only. Recent conclaves lasted no more than a few days. Benedict’s election in 2005 following the death of John Paul II took just two days.
Vatican’s spokesman Father Federico Lombardi confirmed in a press briefing that smoke signals so far mean there were three ballots without any candidate getting 77 votes (the two thirds of 115 necessaries for the election). Lombardi recalled that looking back at the last century, Pius XII (just before the WW2) was the only pope elected on third ballot and all others since have taken more time. This year multiple ballots, then, is a sign of “normal process of discernment by cardinals” Father Lombardi said, and doesn’t indicate a particular “division” among cardinal electors.
The Vatican spokesman also recalled when white smoke rose up went up in 2005 and throngs began running to St. Peter’s from all over Rome. Lombardi said he was surprised by how many people flooded the square last night for black smoke. That is read as a sign of “great expectation”.
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