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Subscribe to RSSVatican workers hoisted a chimney onto the roof of the Sistine Chapel on Saturday to prepare for the conclave that will elect a successor to Pope Benedict. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
VATICAN CITY -- Vatican workers hoisted a chimney onto the roof of the Sistine Chapel on Saturday in readiness for the conclave of Roman Catholic cardinals that will elect a successor to Pope Benedict.
The conclave begins on Tuesday, with the sequestered cardinals using the chimney to tell the outside world whether or not they have chosen a new leader - black smoke signifying no decision and white smoke announcing a new pontiff.
The rust-colored pipe was attached above the terracotta tiles of the roof of the frescoed chapel clearly visible from the nearby St. Peter's Square, where traditionally thousands of believers gather to see how the secret balloting is progressing.
NBC News Vatican analyst George Weigel joins Lester Holt with more on the upcoming election process.
Although no clear favorites have emerged to take the helm of the troubled 1.2-billion-member Church, the conclave is expected to be wrapped up within just a few days.
No conclave has lasted than more than five days in the past century, with many finishing within two or three days. Pope Benedict was elected within barely 24 hours in 2005 after just four rounds of voting.
Benedict triggered the election last month with his shock decision to abdicate because of his increasingly frail health - the first pontiff to step down in six centuries.
He leaves his successor a sea of troubles - including seemingly never-ending sex abuse scandals, rivalry and strife inside the Vatican bureaucracy, a shortage of priests and a rise of secularism in its European strongholds.
Inside the chapel, workmen were carrying out the final preparations to make the room, one of the most famous in the world, ready for the conclave.
Two stoves were installed and attached to a single flue leading up to the roof. One, made of cast iron and used in every conclave since 1939, will be used to burn ballots.
The second stove is an electronic one with a key, a red start button and seven tiny temperature indicator lights. Flares will be electronically ignited inside it to send out either white or black smoke.
Workmen on Saturday were also putting the finishing touches to specially built rows of tables where the cardinals will sit facing each under the gaze of Jesus in Michelangelo's massive Last Judgment panel on the wall behind the altar.
Possible pontiffs
Nearly 150 red-hatted cardinals held a sixth day of preliminary meetings, known as "general congregations," on Saturday to discuss the many challenges besieging their Church and to sketch the ideal profile of the next pope.
Some 115 of their number - all those aged under 80 - will enter the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday to start the formal voting process. One ballot will be held on the first day, with four votes a day thereafter until one of their number receives a two-thirds majority, or 77 votes.
The names of several possible front runners have been mentioned by church officials ever since Benedict's resignation.
Amongst the most mentioned are Italy's Angelo Scola, Brazil's Odilo Pedro Scherer and Canada's Marc Ouellet. U.S. cardinals such as Timothy Dolan or Sean O'Malley have also been cited as "papabile."
With the vast majority of Catholics now living outside Europe, there is growing pressure for a pontiff from another part of the world.
Many Vatican observers believe a Latin American, Asian or African pope could bring attention to the poverty of the southern hemisphere in the same way the Polish-born John Paul put a spotlight on the East-West divide.
"I think it is important to have someone who comes from a place where the Church is dynamic and lively," South Africa Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier told La Stampa newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.
"I believe the choice of candidates will be much longer than it was in 2005," added Napier, who has himself been tipped in some quarters as a possible pontiff.
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Holy Smokes !!
They select . a new Pope,
They will bring new Hope.
Chimney raised? What are they cookin down there?
In Texas, when you raise the Chimney, it means we got us some good ol smokin BBQ!!!
Whatever it is, better be good...
BBQ pork...I guess?
They will select a new Queen Sexual Abuser.
Hummmmmmmmmm all smoke and no fire .....
Everyone get ready to celebrate the crowning of a new pedophile.
Oink.
This entire process is nothing but a bunch of superstition, hocus-pocus and meaningless rituals and symbolism. The white smoke, the red shoes, the vestments, get real!! This isn't the 11th century it’s 2013.
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.
Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout perched on puffs gigantic tail,
Noble kings and princes would bow whenever they came,
Pirate ships would lower their flag when puff roared out his name. oh!
One thing about the sixties..was a true decade of hope!
FAILED THO years later!
The real days of songs..that meant something!
In the white room with black curtains near the station.
Black-roof country, no gold pavements, tired starlings.
Silver horses run down moonbeams in your dark eyes.
Dawn-light smiles on you leaving, my contentment.
I'll wait in this place where the sun never shines;
Wait in this place where the shadows run from themselves.
You said no strings could secure you at the station.
Platform ticket, restless diesels, goodbye windows.
I walked into such a sad time at the station.
As I walked out, felt my own need just beginning.
I'll wait in the queue when the trains come back;
Lie with you where the shadows run from themselves.
At the party she was kindness in the hard crowd.
Consolation for the old wound now forgotten.
Yellow tigers crouched in jungles in her dark eyes.
She's just dressing, goodbye windows, tired starlings.
I'll sleep in this place with the lonely crowd;
Lie in the dark where the shadows run from themselves.
PEACE!
No, No, NO...God no. Not an American, please, not an American. We'll be really bad off if that happens. Think we have problems now ? Watch what happens if an American gets it. USA has done NOTHING to deserve a pope in Rome. This nation is very corrupt and quite wicked in thought and deed. No American Pope, don't even think about it.
Take a easy pal...nobody said someone from the USA.....America is three parts..northern America...and southern America and central America. So relax OK!
Just to say Canada is part of northern America.
Freaking jerk..karlagolay
LMAO at a moron like you!
The lord..in this religion shall decide who it is..beats praying to a stone wall or a freakin mountain ..or fat guy!
Just back from vacation..VOODOO there..think!
Hello folks,
When it comes to bull@!$%#, big-time, major league bull@!$%#, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bull@!$%# story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!
But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good bull@!$%# story. Holy @!$%#!
But I want you to know something, this is sincere, I want you to know, when it comes to believing in God, I really tried. I really, really tried. I tried to believe that there is a God, who created each of us in His own image and likeness, loves us very much, and keeps a close eye on things. I really tried to believe that, but I gotta tell you, the longer you live, the more you look around, the more you realize, something is @!$%#ed up.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed. Results like these do not belong on the résumé of a Supreme Being. This is the kind of @!$%# you'd expect from an office temp with a bad attitude. And just between you and me, in any decently-run universe, this guy would've been out on his all-powerful ass a long time ago. And by the way, I say "this guy", because I firmly believe, looking at these results, that if there is a God, it has to be a man.
No woman could or would ever @!$%# things up like this. So, if there is a God, I think most reasonable people might agree that he's at least incompetent, and maybe, just maybe, doesn't give a @!$%#. Doesn't give a @!$%#, which I admire in a person, and which would explain a lot of these bad results.
So rather than be just another mindless religious robot, mindlessly and aimlessly and blindly believing that all of this is in the hands of some spooky incompetent father figure who doesn't give a @!$%#, I decided to look around for something else to worship. Something I could really count on.
And immediately, I thought of the sun. Happened like that. Overnight I became a sun-worshipper. Well, not overnight, you can't see the sun at night. But first thing the next morning, I became a sun-worshipper. Several reasons. First of all, I can see the sun, okay? Unlike some other gods I could mention, I can actually see the sun. I'm big on that. If I can see something, I don't know, it kind of helps the credibility along, you know? So everyday I can see the sun, as it gives me everything I need; heat, light, food, flowers in the park, reflections on the lake, an occasional skin cancer, but hey. At least there are no crucifixions, and we're not setting people on fire simply because they don't agree with us.
Sun worship is fairly simple. There's no mystery, no miracles, no pageantry, no one asks for money, there are no songs to learn, and we don't have a special building where we all gather once a week to compare clothing. And the best thing about the sun, it never tells me I'm unworthy. Doesn't tell me I'm a bad person who needs to be saved. Hasn't said an unkind word. Treats me fine. So, I worship the sun. But, I don't pray to the sun. Know why? I wouldn't presume on our friendship. It's not polite.
I've often thought people treat God rather rudely, don't you? Asking trillions and trillions of prayers every day. Asking and pleading and begging for favors. Do this, gimme that, I need a new car, I want a better job. And most of this praying takes place on Sunday His day off. It's not nice. And it's no way to treat a friend.
But people do pray, and they pray for a lot of different things, you know, your sister needs an operation on her crotch, your brother was arrested for defecating in a mall. But most of all, you'd really like to @!$%# that hot little redhead down at the convenience store. You know, the one with the eyepatch and the clubfoot? Can you pray for that? I think you'd have to. And I say, fine. Pray for anything you want. Pray for anything, but what about the Divine Plan?
Remember that? The Divine Plan. Long time ago, God made a Divine Plan. Gave it a lot of thought, decided it was a good plan, put it into practice. And for billions and billions of years, the Divine Plan has been doing just fine. Now, you come along, and pray for something. Well suppose the thing you want isn't in God's Divine Plan? What do you want Him to do? Change His plan? Just for you? Doesn't it seem a little arrogant? It's a Divine Plan. What's the use of being God if every run-down shmuck with a two-dollar prayerbook can come along and @!$%# up Your Plan?
And here's something else, another problem you might have: Suppose your prayers aren't answered. What do you say? "Well, it's God's will." "Thy Will Be Done." Fine, but if it's God's will, and He's going to do what He wants to anyway, why the @!$%# bother praying in the first place? Seems like a big waste of time to me! Couldn't you just skip the praying part and go right to His Will? It's all very confusing.
So to get around a lot of this, I decided to worship the sun. But, as I said, I don't pray to the sun. You know who I pray to? Joe Pesci. Two reasons: First of all, I think he's a good actor, okay? To me, that counts. Second, he looks like a guy who can get things done. Joe Pesci doesn't @!$%# around. In fact, Joe Pesci came through on a couple of things that God was having trouble with.
For years I asked God to do something about my noisy neighbor with the barking dog, Joe Pesci straightened that @!$%# out with one visit. It's amazing what you can accomplish with a simple baseball bat.
So I've been praying to Joe for about a year now. And I noticed something. I noticed that all the prayers I used to offer to God, and all the prayers I now offer to Joe Pesci, are being answered at about the same 50% rate. Half the time I get what I want, half the time I don't. Same as God, 50-50. Same as the four-leaf clover and the horseshoe, the wishing well and the rabbit's foot, same as the Mojo Man, same as the Voodoo Lady who tells you your fortune by squeezing the goat's testicles, it's all the same: 50-50. So just pick your superstition, sit back, make a wish, and enjoy yourself.
And for those of you who look to The Bible for moral lessons and literary qualities, I might suggest a couple of other stories for you. You might want to look at the Three Little Pigs, that's a good one. Has a nice happy ending, I'm sure you'll like that. Then there's Little Red Riding Hood, although it does have that X-rated part where the Big Bad Wolf actually eats the grandmother. Which I didn't care for, by the way. And finally, I've always drawn a great deal of moral comfort from Humpty Dumpty. The part I like the best? "All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again." That's because there is no Humpty Dumpty, and there is no God. None, not one, no God, never was.
In fact, I'm gonna put it this way. If there is a God, may he strike this audience dead! See? Nothing happened. Nothing happened? Everybody's okay? All right, tell you what, I'll raise the stakes a little bit. If there is a God, may he strike me dead. See? Nothing happened, oh, wait, I've got a little cramp in my leg. And my balls hurt. Plus, I'm blind. I'm blind, oh, now I'm okay again, must have been Joe Pesci, huh? God Bless Joe Pesci. Thank you all very much. Joe Bless You!
Compliments of Mr. George Carlin. RIP
karlagolay-wouldn't your last sentence make an American perfectly qualified?
Let me pontificate about the word 'The Pontiff' that refers to the Pope.
The Pontiff comes originally from Pontifex Maximus.
Pontifex Maximus is Latin for "greatest pontiff" - the high priest of the College of Pontiffs (Collegium Pontificum) in ancient Rome.
And Jesus did away with the concept of priestly hierarchy. The New Testament teaches the "priesthood of believers." All are priests; there is no supreme or greatest priest. Not even a "greatest" disciple as we see in the convversation of Jesus and his disciples. How can they get so much so wrong?
You are incorrect in your assessment. Jesus did not do away with the priesthood. There is a priesthood of believers, but it is not the ministerial priesthood. The Church has not gotten this wrong, but you have.
gen, jesus had nothing to do with establishing the hierarchy of the catholic clergy, or, for that matter, with establishing the roman catholic church. that was the work of people who came later, seeking power and money.
I'm SO excited!!
What a shame to have the Sistine Chapel sullied by this syndicate. Would be a great time for Interpol to conduct a mass round-up.
Good old Catholic Church.
Out of touch and out of date......
It's like the GOP of the whole world.
Grumpy old white guys telling everyone how to live, while shielding the criminals in their midst.
And the sheeple bleat in anticipation......
They are not ALL white. Double check the list of cardinals.
And they are all liberals that like to play with alter boys
Liberals in the Catholic Church?
What planet you from, peckerwood? Surely not Earth.....
Do they use alters as altars there?
1TP, no doubt the Catholic Church has a token black, a token Hispanic, a token Asian, etc. etc., just like the GOP.
But it's been a white-bread loaf for the last couple millenia....
Altar boys is what they are. Alter boys is what the priests do to them!
Who cares what these sexual abusers, these predators, do. The bastards. They should be imprisoned ASAP.
A disgusting organization of cruel-hearted cowards who must face justice for their life-ruining deeds.
Who, the Catholic Church or the GOP?
Jesus would be SO proud!
oink
Gives a whole new meaning to "Pope on a Rope".
I know I'm guessing, but I bet none of you losers have more then 6 bucks in your pocket right now.
I'm guessing that 6 bucks is what you charge for your "services"?
celtic curmdgeon
What a surprise, a gay atheist liberal with a sense of humor.
Don't flatter yourself, you really weren't that humorous.
I don't generally carry cash on me, so I guess yes, you are right.
WTF still thinks being a) gay, b) atheist, and/or c) liberal is "bad". And it's 2013. What a great example of the growing irrelevance of a) the GOP, and b) the religious. Thanks, man! When dudes like you start puffing up and spouting off it sure makes it a lot easier to prove a point.
What a bunch of bull_____!
Catholics, Come Home!
We need all your money to settle all the pedophile priest lawsuits!
So where and how did they send out the smoke signals before this? Was it a different location?
John Stewart had a great spoof on the Catholic choice of the symbolism in a chimney.
Of course it's being /raised/ and /white stuff/ will come out the end; this is the Vatican we are talking about! Is it a coincidence that short, forceful, prayers are called /ejaculations/ in older Catholic prayer books? Can't make this stuff up!
got to tell ya these jokers are just sitting around puffin on some fantastic Italian weed and wine.. Dang wish I was a popee..
The Catholic Church is part of the Left Wing Conspiracy. They hide Child molesters and collect from the people so they must be Liberals
Holy spin control, Batman!
You don't grasp much, do you, CN?
The Catholic Church is so right-wing it keeps going in circles.
Please stop giving the "election" of the new Pope credence. This "Church " is nothing more than a collection of usurpers that parade around in gowns and really funny hats. Would NBC give the same coverage to another election in any other crank Religion? The pope, small type intended, is a farce. Pedophile Protection Agency is a much better term.
How about we just block the chimney spout,lock the doors, let the smoke back up to them inside and if one of them makes it out he's the Pope.
Oh the voodoo of it all !
Does anybody really care about this BS? Bunch of gay, child molesting old men having an orgy in the basement.
The time is now. Cardinal Dolan will be the one to bring healing and joy to a hurting Church. He will galvanize people to come back especially the youth. Mark my words, God has his hand on him.
Habemus Papem!
And where exactly is that hand?
Here is a better way to pick the pope! -
Will the Pope-a-Dope never end?
It's sad to hear all the comments of people who have no sense of history and clearly lack common decency.
Whether you are Catholic or not, religious traditions and rituals tie our past with the future. It's what it means to be human. Mostly everything we wear, eat, and speak at some point started as a tradition.
For those that haven't been to Rome and the Sistine Chapel, I suggest you go. It is breathtaking and inspiring. The genius architecture and artwork has to be God inspired, especially the periods of which they were created. These works and traditions are part of the human experience and should be respected.
*&@Y^%@... Sorry, I just threw up a bit.
What it means to be human? Are you kidding me?
We live in a secular nation.
Also, you are part of the reason why organized religion is severely declining in this country. Keep your gods out of everything. Keep it private.
How many legions does the Pope have?
So spake Joseph Stalin.
Point is: the Pappy can slappy but not conquer. Go figure.
Why does the news media treat this story as if all people find it
captivating. I don't find the rituals of the Catholic Church as
something important to know about. Like I really care about the
stupid red shoes. This is ridiculous! Will I feel safer in a violent
world when the white smoke lets us all know we have a new
poppa? You've got to be kidding. Just the facts please! No essays
about how wonderful the Vatican is or the statues and paintings.
When I see these Cardinals in their red robes and caps it makes
me angry. The idea of all men created equal doesn't seem to mean
anything to them. They thrive on admiration and adulation.
We would be better off to dismantle this institution and make it
subject to the laws of a democratically elected government of
the people.
We've removed God from our schools, from public buildings, from our homes.
Now we ask why he doesn't hear us.
Go figure.
Um, because imaginary beings don't hear?