Vatican City – Vatican workers installed the simple stove in the Sistine Chapel where the ballots will be burned during the next conclave to elect a new Pope.
The Holy See published a video on Saturday of the preparations for the conclave of May 7, which included the installation of the stove and a false soil in the Sisto Frescoed chapel to do it even. The images have also shown that workers made the line of single wooden tables where the cardinals will sit and vote on Wednesday, and a ramp leading to the main lounge area for any cardinal in wheelchair.
Friday, firefighters were seen on the roof of the chapel, fixing the fireplace from which the smoke signals will indicate if a pope has been elected.
The preparations all leading to the solemn ceremonial at the start of the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis, the first Latin American Pope in history, who died on April 21 at 88.
Wednesday morning begins with a mass in the Saint-Pierre basilica celebrated by the dean of the Cardinals college, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, after which the voters of the cardinal are sequestrated with the rest of the world. In the afternoon, they will transform themselves in the Sistine Chapel, will hear meditation and lend their oaths before voting.
To date, 133 cardinals are expected to participate in the conclave. If no candidate reaches the majority of two -thirds necessary, or 89 votes, on the first ballot, the papers will be burned and the black smoke will indicate to the world that no pope has been elected.
The cardinals will return to their Vatican residence for the night and return to the Sistine Chapel Thursday morning to lead two voices in the morning, two in the afternoon, until a winner is found.
After both voting cycles, the ballots are burned in the stove. If no pope is chosen, the voting bulletins are mixed with cartridges containing potassium perchlorate, anthorane – a component of coal tar – and sulfur to produce black smoke on the chimney. If there is a winner, the ballots are mixed with potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin to produce white smoke.
White smoke came out of the fireplace during the fifth ballot on March 13, 2013, and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was presented to the world as Pope Francis shortly after the loggia of the Saint-Pierre basilica.
The preparations are underway while the cardinals meet in private in more informal sessions to discuss the needs of the Catholic Church in the future and the type of Pope which can direct it.
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