The conclave’s opening curveball
Editor’s notes from Rome: The conclave’s opening curveball
The first night of the conclave wasn’t supposed to start with a curveball.
For all the nervous expectation among the thousands in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday evening, they were all expecting the same thing: black smoke from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel around 7 p.m., a sign that the cardinals had not elected a new pope after the inaugural round of voting.
But when the smoke didn’t appear at 7 — nor 7:30, or 8 — speculation among Roman natives and visitors in the square started to grow: Was there trouble lighting the stove to burn their first ballots? Did the retired papal preacher, Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, go long in his opening reflection to the cardinals? Or had they decided not to vote at all tonight?