Vatican workers installed the simple stove in the Sistine Chapel where the ballots will be burned during the Conclave to come to elect a new pope, While Jockeying continued outside for whom among the cardinals is in the running.
The Holy See published a video on Saturday of the preparations for the conclave of May 7, which included the installation of the stove and a false soil in the Sisto Frescoed chapel to do it even. The images have also shown that the workers made the line of single wooden tables where the cardinals will sit and vote their votes from Wednesday, and a ramp leading to the main lounge for any cardinal in wheelchair.
Friday, firefighters were seen on the roof of the chapel, fixing the fireplace from which the smoke signals will indicate if a pope has been elected.
Preparations all leading to the solemn ceremonial at the start of the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis, The first Latin American pope in history, who died on April 21 at 88. The Vatican said in a statement that Francis Death of a stroke This put it in a coma and led to irreversible heart failure.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni published a net refusal of information on Friday that one of the main candidates, Cardinal Pietro Paroline, had undergone health problems earlier in the week that required medical care. The reports, which spoke of a problem of blood pressure, were carried by the Italian media and taken up by Catholicvote.org, the American site led by Brian Burch, the choice of the Trump administration to be the ambassador of the Holy See.
Speculation on the health of a papal candidate is a pillar of conclave policy and maneuvers, because various factions are trying to torpedo or stimulate certain candidates. Francis knew the dynamic of the first -hand: when the votes took place in the 2013 conclave, a breathless cardinal asked him if he was true that he had only one lung, because the rumors had him. (Francis later told that he told Cardinal that he had had the upper lobe of a lung withdrawn as a young man.) He was elected shortly after.
Some weigh on other so-called “full”. In addition to the paroline, Other candidates whose names appeared include Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the former Archbishop of Manila, and the conservative cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea.
We know less of the 15 cardinals that Francis appointed in countries that had any beforehand – or how they will vote. One of them is Anders Arborelius from Sweden.
“We live in a time of conflict, wars,” he said. “It is therefore important to have a voice that can say something else, that God is present.”
Antonio Masiello / Getty images
What is the papal conclave?
The papal conclave is the closely kept gathering of cardinal voters – all serving the cardinals under the age of 80 – to elect the next Pope.
The exact number varies, but there are currently 135 cardinal voters eligible to meet in the Vatican around the world to choose the successor to Pope Francis. Of all the current cardinal voters, 108 were appointed by Pope Francis during his 12 -year papacy. They come from 71 different countries, including 10 from the United States.
What’s going on in the conclave?
Under the rules of the church, the conclave must start 15 to 20 days after the death of a pope. Pope Francis Died April 21.
Wednesday morning begins with a mass in the Saint-Pierre basilica celebrated by the dean of the Cardinals college, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, after which the voters of the cardinal are sequestrated with the rest of the world. In the afternoon, they will transform themselves in the Sistine Chapel, will hear meditation and lend their oaths before voting.
If no candidate reaches the majority of two thirds necessary for the first ballot, the papers will be burned and the black smoke will indicate to the world that no pope has been elected.
The cardinals will return to their Vatican residence for the night and return to the Sistine Chapel Thursday morning to lead two voices in the morning, two in the afternoon, until a winner is found.
Each cardinal must take an oath of absolute secret before voting. If they disclose information inside the conclave, they will be excommunicated by the church.
After both voting cycles, the ballots are burned in the stove. If no pope is chosen, the voting bulletins are mixed with cartridges containing potassium perchlorate, anthorane – a component of coal tar – and sulfur to produce black smoke on the chimney. If there is a winner, the ballots are mixed with potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin to produce white smoke.
White smoke came out of the fireplace during the fifth ballot on March 13, 2013, and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was presented to the world as Pope Francis shortly after the loggia of the Saint-Pierre basilica.
The preparations are underway while the cardinals meet in private in more informal sessions to discuss the needs of the Catholic Church in the future and the type of Pope which can direct it.
