Right now 115 Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church have gathered in Rome to elect a new Pope. It takes two-thirds votes plus one to be elected via secret ballot so that the winner needs 77 votes to ascend to Peter's chair. After each voting the ballots are burned and if insufficient votes you will see black smoke emitted from the chimney of the conclave room. When a successor is finally elected you will see white smoke coming out of the chimney accompanied by much cheering from the throngs. With this many diverse members it will be curious to see how many ballots it will take. In 1939 with WWII imminent Pius XII was elected on the third ballot but there were only half as many Cardinals then as today. Benedict XVI was elected on the fourth ballot. They do want a decision before Palm Sunday which starts Holy Week. One hopes they don't take too long which might require a chimney sweep to empty the furnace of all the ashes. Stay tuned and watch the rooftops.
tjs
Next - TBA
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