Papal conclave ballots have been burned to maintain secrecy for centuries. Ballot smoke has been used to announce a decision since 1914.

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Smoke signals have occurred at mid-morning, noon, mid-afternoon and evening. The longest conclave took three years.

It wasn’t clear whether grey smoke was closer to black or white, for example. By the 1970s, the straw method had been abandoned in favour of more controllable chemical mixtures .

White smoke appeared to billow from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel this afternoon - despite cardinals failing to reach a verdict on the next pontiff. Footage from the Vatican live feed of the ...

clearly visible from St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. It will release a plume of white smoke if a pope has been chosen, and black smoke if no candidate has won the required two-thirds ...

The pontiff’s identity will be known shortly, when he appears on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

What does white smoke coming out of the Vatican mean? White smoke coming out of the Vatican chimney means a new pope was selected and received enough votes during the Papal Conclave. For white ...

For black smoke, the Vatican uses a mixture of potassium perchlorate, anthracene, and sulphur. The white smoke used to signal ...