Conclave Day Two

Well, they certainly made us wait last night! The conclave began at around six pm local time and black smoke only started pouring out of the Sistine Chapel chimney around nine pm - much later than expected.

Did it meet with a technical hitch that delayed proceedings? Maybe, more likely that the first ballot had to be voided and carried out again. I guess we won't find out either way until after it is all over. 

Like many others no doubt I spent the evening watching the chimney on BBC News YouTube page. For three hours I listened to their reporter and pundits gamely keep the conversation going in the face of no facts at all about why the first ballot was taking so long. In all seriousness, it can't have been easy for them so they did a very good job.

If the conclave goes the way of 2005's and 2013's then we should have a pope this afternoon. There is no reason why it should, however, (and, given the lack of a favourite beforehand every reason why it might not) so we might be in for another - hopefully shorter - evening of chimney watching before seeing black smoke. 

One thing is for sure, we will get a little more seagull sighting as well since they seem to enjoy taking a rest on the roof!

In the meantime, I join everyone else who is praying for the cardinals that they might be given the grace to elect the right man and that they do indeed do just that.

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Black smoke emerges from the Sistine Chapel from the BBC's coverage of the conclave