Chapter Twenty-Seven
Vatican City, Rome
Outside the Vatican, the noise of the excited crowd rose as they pointed at the black plumes of smoke issuing from the hallowed chimneys and drifting over the rooftops. For centuries, the scrutineers had ritually overseen the traditional burning of the ballot papers to signal the outcome of the secret elections. Mixed with straw, the paper produced a black smoke that informed all those watching that the ballot had been inconclusive. When the time would come to burn the papers without adding any straw this would signal to the mass of expectant onlookers that the new Pope had been chosen. The pure, white smoke arising from the chimneys above St. Peter’s Square would confirm that the secret conclave had finally made their choice.
Inside the Sistine C
