White smoke and an American pope
My day to remember in Rome: White smoke and an American pope
After a few days in Rome covering the build-up to the conclave, I had a clear “white smoke” plan.
It went like this: I would be in St. Peter’s Square to witness the white smoke from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, in order to capture the crowd’s reaction. Then I could run up the stairs to the deck of the southern colonnade of St. Peter’s Square, the right “arm” of Bernini’s famous columns, where credentialed journalists are allowed to take pictures and video during major events.
But because of some irregularities in the voting schedule that day, the 6 p.m. smoke signal caught me on the deck, not in the square.