Vatican chimney installed ahead of papal conclave

AFP | Vatican

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City Firefighters installed the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel yesterday which will emit white smoke to signal the election of a new pope as preparations proceed just five days before cardinals gather for the conclave.

Some 133 Catholic cardinals will gather below Michelangelo’s famed frescoes in the 15th-century chapel, situated inside the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican, to elect a successor to Pope Francis.

Held behind locked doors, the conclave will signal to the world the outcome by burning ballots in a special stove, with the chimney emitting black smoke if no one has been elected, or white smoke if there is a new pope.

Cardinals from around the world have been called back to Rome following the death on April 21 of Francis, an energetic reformer from Argentina who led the Catholic Church for 12 years.

All but four of the cardinal electors -- those aged under 80 -- who can vote in the conclave are already in Rome, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.

Ahead of the election, cardinals of all ages have been meeting daily at the Vatican to discuss the challenges facing the next head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

Yesterday’s meeting emphasised spreading the Catholic faith, the need for unity and the risk of “counter-witness” -- problems such as sexual abuse and financial scandals -- among other issues, Bruni told reporters.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, Italy’s Pietro Parolin -- who served as secretary of state under Francis -- and Ghana’s Peter Turkson are among the favourites to be the next pope.

But there is an old Roman saying that he who enters the conclave a pope, leaves a cardinal -- a warning that the favourite rarely emerges as the winner.