Black Smoke rises

Black Smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel yesterday as the first day of Conclave ended, to announce to the world “that Cardinals had voted but not yet reached a majority needed to choose a new pope.” So the election process will continue today starting at approximately 1:30 am Eastern time (7:30 am Vatican time).

The timeline for Tuesday’s voting is:

* At 7:30 a.m. local time (1:30 a.m. EDT), the cardinals celebrate Mass in the hotel chapel.
* At 9 a.m. (3 a.m. EDT), they will gather in the Sistine Chapel for initial two rounds of balloting.
* Noon (6 a.m. EDT) is the approximate estimated time of the first smoke signal from the Sistine Chapel. The cardinals are to break for lunch.
* At 4 p.m. (10 a.m. EDT), the cardinals will return to the Sistine Chapel for two rounds of afternoon balloting.
* 7 p.m. (1 p.m. EDT) is the approximate time of a smoke signal after afternoon voting.

Conclave is expected to follow this schedule until the next Pope is elected. “No conclave in the past century has lasted more than five days, and the election that made John Paul II pope in October 1978 took eight ballots over three days.” There are 115 voting cardinals participating in this conclave coming from six continents, all working towards the election of John Paul II successor.