Conclave and Smoke: 10 points to understand how election is made again

The vote is secret and deposited in a ballot box. Cardinals have no right to abstain or to vote for themselves. To be elected, a cardinal will need a two -thirds majority. If after the third day no candidate reaches the minimum required, the Constitution establishes a 24 -hour break, which will be devoted “to prayer, the colloquium (…) and a brief spiritual exhortation.” If there are seven other useless votes, another day break will be made.

The last act of the conclave consists of a question made by three cardinals. Should they question the elected if he “accepts his election as a high pontiff?”. After the affirmative answer, there is another question, “quo nomine vis vocari?” (“How do you want to be called?”). The ceremony ends with the congratulations on the new Pope by the cardinals.

Before, Popes used the names of baptism. The last pope that followed this tradition was Marcelo 2nd, elected in 1501. There is no consensus of when the change of name became a rule. In one of the versions of historians, who started the change was John 2, in 523, because he thought his name, Mercury, was of a pagan god. In this way, he decided to change it.

The famous smoke

Smoke is released to warn if there was a choice of the Pope. Smoke is produced in one of the two chimneys installed in the Sistine Chapel, in the most modern of the two, which works with an electronic system. It may be white (if the choice has been made) or black (if there is no consensus among cardinals).

Prior to the public appearance, a new Pope should go to the “tear room”. The place, where the three papal habits are stored, earned that name because it is rumored that all the elect have already cried there when recognizing the magnitude of the responsibility they have just assumed. Then the new Pope goes to the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after announcement to the faithful that there is a new Pope in the Vatican.