Choosing a new pope: How the Vatican turns it's smoke signals black or white
For centuries, Conclave, meaning "with key" in Latin, has seen cardinals locked away until they agree on a new pope, ensuring the process is shrouded in secrecy and hidden from public view.
So, how will people know when a new pope has been chosen?
For those outside the chapel, the only sign comes from the smoke produced by burning the ballots on the chapel's roof after each round of voting.
The colour of the smoke tells the story: black means no cardinal has secured the required two-thirds majority, while white signals that the cardinals have reached a consensus and elected a new pope.
The tradition of using smoke dates back to the 1800s, but the first recorded use of white and black smoke to mark the result was at the 1903 Conclave.
How is the smoke created?
Inside the Sistine Chapel, two stoves are temporarily set up for the conclave, both connected to a flue - a pipe within a chimney - that leads the smoke up through the chapel roof and outside.
The left stove is used to burn the ballots, while the other stove creates the smoke's colour.
What gives the smoke its distinctive black or white colour?
To create the different colours of smoke, specific chemicals are added during the burning process.
After each voting session, chemicals are burned in the right stove to produce either a black or white colour for the smoke that is created in the left stove, where the ballots are burned.
For black smoke, a chemical compound of potassium perchlorate, anthracene, and sulfur is used to make the smoke darker.
To create the white smoke, a mixture of potassium chloride, lactose, and amber conifer resin is added to make it more visible.
Shortly after a new pope is elected, he steps onto the Vatican balcony, framed by red curtains, where he will deliver his first apostolic blessing, known as the 'Urbi et Orbi' ('To the City and to the World'). This marks the end of the conclave process.
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