The pope is elected by ballot, the votes being cast by the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church in conclave at the Vatican in Rome.
After the death of a pope, nine days of mourning, the Novendialia, are observed in the Basilica of St Peter’s. Eighteen days after the Novendialia the cardinals, who have come to the Vatican from all over the world, enter a part of the palace that is closed to outsiders. The doors giving access to it are walled up and messages are passed in by rotas, or turning boxes, set in the walls.
Each morning and afternoon the cardinals vote in the Sistine Chapel. The votes are immediately counted by three scrutneers, who are changed at each session. If no candidate received the necessary majority of two-thirds plus one, the votes are burned in a stove in the corner of the chapel with wet straw so that black smoke is produced. When a cardinal is chosen, dry straw is used and the resulting white smoke signals the election to the crowd on the piazza of St Peter’s.
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