View of the Sistine Chapel from St. Peter's Square on May 2, 2025. Photo credit: CatholicVote (McKenna Snow)
VATICAN CITY // Today, the roof of the Sistine Chapel received a crucial addition in preparation for the conclave: the chimney that will produce the white smoke announcing the election of a new pope.
To unsuspecting onlookers standing from St. Peter’s Square, the modestly constructed chimney might appear to be a simple pipe capped with a small cowl covering; but by next Wednesday, the location and task of this crucial installation will be unmissable, when it will begin regularly billowing out black or white smoke to update the world on the status of the conclave.
The College of Cardinals will enter the Sistine Chapel May 7 to begin the conclave, with one vote conducted that afternoon. Two-thirds of the College must be in agreement to select a pope. Otherwise, the chimney will produce black smoke, confirming that there is no new pope yet.
The Sistine Chapel became the conclave’s permanent meeting place in 1878, although the first official time a conclave took place in the chapel was in 1492, according to the chapel’s website.
If no pope is elected on the first day, the College will reconvene the next morning to begin another session of voting. During a conclave, there are two daily sessions – one in the morning and one in the afternoon – which are concluded by burning, in a small stove, the session’s ballots, along with chemicals that help the properly colored smoke come out from the chimney clearly and definitively.
Once a new pope has been elected, the chimney will billow clouds of white smoke. Because there are a number of ceremonious steps that must be taken immediately after the election, there is about an hour wait before the name of the next successor of St. Peter is announced to the world by the Cardinal Protodeacon.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops explains that these ceremonious steps include the College asking the pope-elect if he accepts the election, and if so, what papal name he chooses. He is then dressed in the papal vestments in preparation for going out on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to greet the faithful.
Just before the new pope goes out to the balcony, the Cardinal Protodeacon will go out to the balcony to proclaim as the white smoke continues to rise:
“Habemus Papam!” (“We have a pope!”)