POPE: CONCLAVE, YELLOW SMOKE FROM CHIMNEY, TECHNICAL TESTS

[emad]

(AGI) - Vatican City, Apr 15 - The smoke that will leave the Sistine Chapel's chimney at 1pm: the Conclave has not started yet, it will do so Monday afternoon, and what will be released in the Vatican sky will be yellow. It will be the fruit of a technical test on the working of the furnace where the forms of the cardinal electors will be burnt, on the working of the chimney pipe and finally the chimney itself, which is currently being placed on the roof of the building that hosts the Sistine Chapel, said the Holy See's Press Office Director, Joaquin Navarro Valls, adding that the smoke will not be black or white to avoid confusion. Today tourists and the faithful, especially the youth, will be able to see how the Sistine Chapel's chimney which will reveal the result of the cardinal's vote to the world works. (AGI) -
151242 APR 05

http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200504151242-1065-RT1-CRO-0-NF11&page=0&id=agionline-eng.oggitalia

Yellow...a traditional Papal color...

[bbernardini]

1. Black? How 2004.

Everybody knows that aqua is the new black.

[emad]

2. Maybe it's yellowcake uranium that's smokin' out there...

??

[iconoclastNYC]

3. This is all so silly. N/T

[freedom_to_read]

6. why silly?

it's a tradition, and i think it's kind of neat. can anyone here explain the smoke-color thing from the conclave, for us non-RC's?

[matcom]

7. if it comes out white.....

its Jamaican

if it comes out black.....

its mostly Thia with some seeds

[ElaineinIN]

8. Comes from the secret balloting process

what happens is after each vote the ballots are burned, which produces the smoke. I read that they add a chemical to the ballot in which the pope is elected to change the color.

[freedom_to_read]

9. so I'm confused, sorry

... each of the "candidates" has a color & the color that comes out tells us which one has won?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

10. Black smoke means there has been a vote

but no pope has been chosen. White smoke means there is a new pope.

[meow2u3]

14. Black smoke means the cardinals burned the lasagna

So said Paul Lynde--back in '78!

[freedom_to_read]

17. thanks for the answer!

personally I think it's kind of exciting to see who they'll choose. not that it matters to me, religiously, but still it's cool to live through history, if you know what i mean.

[Selteri]

4. (joke) Blue-White smoke seen comming from the windows of the Enclave

where the cardinals were having a preliminary meeting. When the Swiss Guard rushed in to ensure there wasn't a fire they saw the cardinals smoking their rice paper ballots with an herb they were 'testing' to see if it would be white enough.

Teh Swiss Guard reported that the 150 assembled cardinals looked tired, with bloodshot eyes and tired looking smiles on their faces.

(Sorry, I couldn't resist)

[matcom]

5. i love the all caps

nice touch

[DS1]

11. Yellow smoke indicates the eternal question

Who farted?

[Lisa]

12. I thought they were going to dispense with the smoke this time ...

... and signal a successful choice by ringing the bells, or something?

[UrbScotty]

13. They will do both (nt)

[Lisa]

16. a compromise, maybe?

I guess the smoke is just too traditional to cut out!

[420inTN]

15. I wonder if someone will set up a webcam looking at the chimney? n/t