So, in case you've been living under a rock for the past month or so, the Pope has resigned and the Vatican is in the middle of conclave, as of yesterday afternoon!
The first vote started yesterday around 4:30, and the smoke from the ballots was supposed to be between 7 and 8. I was in class until 6:15 but we headed to St. Peter's right after (getting gelato on the way at our favorite gelato place, which just so happens to be right outside the Vatican walls...) to wait with the crowd for the first smoke!
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| Waiting for smoke from the first vote! |
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| They have cameras on the chimney because you can't actually see it from the square. |
It's been crazy being here for something like this, but it's not like people in Rome can drop whatever they're doing to hang out in St. Peter's. There really isn't anything to do there in between votes, anyway. Apparently every day there's supposed to be smoke between 12-1 and 7-8, since they're voting twice a day now. Then as soon as there's white smoke, rumor has it that everybody runs to St. Peter's because it takes about 45 minutes for the new pope to get dressed and prepare to make his first public appearance.
I'm going to Germany this weekend to visit a good friend of mine, so my fingers are crossed that we see white smoke before I leave, but I have a feeling that's not going to happen and that sometime while I'm gone we'll have a new pope. But, we just found out that we got confirmed for tickets for Easter mass with the new pope so that definitely will make up for missing the white smoke if it comes this weekend!
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| Black smoke... no pope! |
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| "Sede Vacante" stamps and seals (it's a different seal during a conclave than when there is a pope!) |
I'm headed back to St. Peter's tonight to watch the smoke from the third vote... fingers crossed!
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