Vote for new pope: All eyes on Sistine Chapel chimney as conclave enters day two
If the morning's first secret ballot fails again to identify a clear winner from the crowded pack, a second vote will be held before there is any smoke.
If there is no consensus again, two more votes will be held in the afternoon.
The cardinals will remain locked away until they choose a 267th pontiff to lead the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.
They are sworn to secrecy about the centuries-old process under threat of excommunication.
Black smoke
The previous two papal elections, in 2005 and 2013, lasted two days apiece, but some in the previous century took as long as five. The longest ever lasted almost three years, between November 1268 and September 1271.
More than three hours passed between the cardinals being locked in on Wednesday afternoon and the black smoke appearing, during which time day had turned to night.
By then, tens of thousands of people -- pilgrims, tourists and curious Romans -- had gathered in St Peter's Square.
Groans erupted when the smoke emerged, but the mood was not sour.
'I don't mind that it's black smoke, it shows the Holy Spirit is at work. There will be other votes soon enough, we will get our pope,' said 37-year-old James Kleineck, from Texas.
Barbara Mason, 50, travelled from Canada for the conclave, hoping to see a pope who would continue in Francis's progressive footsteps.
'I'm glad they've taken so much time because that means they're thinking carefully about who the pope will be,' she said, suggesting that Francis's popular, bicycle-riding special envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, would be a worthy choice.
The crowds were thinner on Thursday morning, but several hundred people got there early to get a good spot to watch the day's events.
'It's remarkable, it's a one-in-lifetime event. I don't think I will have a chance to live that again,' said Paul O'Flynn, 72, an Irishman visiting from New York.
Pictures of the black smoke were on the front page of Italy's newspapers on Thursday, with La Stampa daily declaring: 'The moment of choice.'
The 2025 conclave is the largest and the most international ever, assembling cardinals from around 70 countries -- many of whom did not previously know each other.
There is no clear front-runner to succeed charismatic Argentine Francis, with the cardinals representing a range of progressive and conservative traditions within the Church.
But the challenges facing the 2,000-year-old institution are clear, and the new pope after his election will need to tread carefully amid geopolitical uncertainty, while addressing deep fractions within the Church.
There is also the continued fallout from the global clerical sex abuse scandal and, in the West, increasingly empty pews.
What the church needs
The start of the conclave, with a solemn procession of cardinals and other clergy into the Sistine Chapel, was streamed live on large screens in front of St Peter's Basilica.
After gathering for silent prayer in the Vatican's Pauline Chapel, the cardinals proceeded in a colourful procession escorted by Swiss Guards to the famed 15th-century chapel decorated by Michelangelo's frescoes.
Cardinal electors are required to be under the age of 80.
Around 80 percent of the cardinals voting were appointed by Francis -- an impulsive yet charismatic champion of the downtrodden.
But while some cardinals are looking to a new pope to protect and develop his legacy, others want a more conservative defender of doctrine.
More than a dozen names are circulating, from Italian Pierbattista Pizzaballa to Hungary's Peter Erdo and Sri Lanka's Malcolm Ranjith.
- Agence France-Presse
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Otago Daily Times
01-08-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Letters to Editor: health, voting, 1080
Today's letters to the editor include a plea to save the Roxburgh Medical Centre, debate around changes to voting, and 1080 in New Zealand. I read with major concern this week that the viability of the Roxburgh Medical Centre is at risk. The report stated that "a significant proportion of the Teviot Valley's rural health funding will be withdrawn from January 2026." How on earth did this happen? I worked as the nurse manager and Prime nurse at the medical centre for many years and know how busy it can be, how vital it is to provide the care needed for the valley. This practice is a one and a-half doctor practice. It serves a wide variety of people, from elderly to young families, orchardists, farmers etc. Don't let anyone tell you "but you can travel to Alexandra for your care." This is totally impractical for a lot of folks, especially the elderly. The practice area goes from Raes Junction to Shingle Creek, including outlying farms. Roxburgh locals, you cannot allow this to happen. You must stand up for what this district deserves. If you lose services you will never get them back. Marg Eckhoff Alexandra It's so right Pete Hodgson has said it well in his letter (31.7.25): the disenfranchised should be heard with their votes. That some do not vote is entirely predictable, despite David Seymour's "drop kick" comments. He is not struggling from day to day to survive in the present climate. His world is "sorted" and there is a totalitarian theme in there somewhere. Likewise our prime minister says he is going to "smash" the gangs. This is Trumpian speech and he really has no idea about managing a group of people who have an immutable sense of belonging and supporting each other. His words show his false sense of status to the detriment of many. The changing of the writing on passports is a similar, dare I say it "racist," move couched in ambiguity and evasion. Aotearoa-New Zealand means a lot more than New Zealand-Aotearoa. The entry of te reo into our vocabulary is to be celebrated as it is establishing our identity as many of us want it to be. Peter Strang Dunedin It's nonsense According to Pete Hodgson's thinking, the electoral changes are voter suppression. Or maybe he is just worried that those affected would most likely vote for the opposition parties but are not capable of enrolling in time. To say it is voter suppression is nonsense. These people have a choice (apart from a few who will have to wait until the next election) to enrol or not. This change is no worse than the election bribe that Labour introduced in 2018 in an attempt to get students on side, and their desire to lower the voting age to allow children to vote. David Tordoff Dunedin What goes around April 1633: Pope Urban VIII bans scientist Galileo Galilei's book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems on the grounds that it argues that the Earth revolves around the sun. The Pope and the Church hope that this scientific truth will just go away. It doesn't, but it takes 359 years for the Church to acknowledge it was wrong. July 2025: President Trump revokes the scientific declaration on the dangers of greenhouse gases, undermining the United States' work to control emissions. He and his supporters hope that the scientific truth of climate change will go away. Unfortunately, it won't, and unless we do something now there will be no-one around in 359 years' time to point this out. John Drummond Dunedin Shaking one's head at volume of false rhetoric Concerning Tony Vink's remarks (28.7.25) re Israel and its supposed non aggression. I was wondering what planet Mr Vink is from? The sheer volume of the false rhetoric is hard to believe in this day and age. To think there are still people in the world who think like this is beyond my comprehension. Is it any wonder the world is in the mess we are now. Y Palmer West Harbour On the other hand The upshot of Mr Peters' statement, and that of the other foreign ministers, is that it reinforces Hamas' belief that it is winning the war: this is because international opinion is with them, and that they are being recognised (but not for the terrorists they are). The above action by Mr Peters et al, has led to Hamas winding back the latest attempt at ceasefire talks, and Hamas increasing its demands to the point where it was obvious that any agreement was, and is impossible. Israel is being forced to negotiate with Hamas, rather than just deal with them. Hamas has taken this as them being legitimised as a representative of Gaza rather than the cancer that they are. Kevin Rogers Andersons Bay Hunters and all of us should be worried re 1080 After reading the ODT article (26.7.25) "Concern 1080 will lower deer numbers" hunters — indeed the public — should be concerned as the first part of the planned eradication of predators on 6000ha of Stewart Island was only a trial. Two drops of pre-feed to get animals used to feeding on baits were to be followed up by two drops of toxic bait, the first which has been carried out the second yet to come. The use of deer repellent is no guarantee. For that matter where is the guarantee that deer repellent, if it works, was actually used? Besides, how effective is deer repellent? Deaths of white-tail deer after the trial run raise that question. The poison is not authorised to be used on deer, yet in 1980-81 a formal study on the impact of 1080 on white-tail deer occurred on Stewart Island where a gel formulation containing 1080 poison was applied to broadleaf leaves for the control of white-tail deer, the end results being "this method was found to be very efficient at substantially reducing deer numbers". Although 1080 is not used to target deer, DOC seem more than happy: it does reduce deer numbers dramatically. Besides 1080 is an indiscriminate poison which also kills deer, birds and insects, i.e. any creature which ingests it. In addition a 1080 killed creature's body remains toxic and lethal to anything that scavenges it. A lot could be learned from the Fiordland Wapiti Foundation's trapping programme to protect blue duck in Fiordland. In some areas this has increased numbers considerably without using poisons. I think the estimated cost of $90 million to poison Stewart Island predators would go a long way to control them. Use of trapping and other ground control methods without poisoning non-target species is far more preferable. Extermination is impossible and I say "control", as making Stewart Island, along with mainland New Zealand, predator-free is impossible. Lewis Hore Oamaru
NZ Herald
17-07-2025
- NZ Herald
Pope Francis used to nightly call the Church of the Holy Family and priest Gabriel Romanelli
'Israel deeply regrets that a stray ammunition hit Gaza's Holy Family Church. Every innocent life lost is a tragedy,' Netanyahu said in a statement. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had called Netanyahu after having 'not a positive reaction' to news of the strike. 'It was a mistake by the Israelis to hit that Catholic church, that's what the Prime Minister relayed to the President,' she said. AFP images showed the injured being treated at Gaza City's Al-Ahli Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, with one receiving oxygen and blood while lying under a foil blanket. Father Romanelli could be seen with a bandage around his lower leg. Mourners knelt next to two white body bags laid out on the floor. 'In the morning a tank shell targeted us and hit the church, and a number of civilians were killed and wounded,' said Shadi Abu Daoud, a displaced man whose 70-year-old mother was killed in the strike. Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal confirmed the deaths at the church. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, told Vatican News: 'What we know for sure is that a tank, the IDF [Israeli military] says by mistake, but we are not sure about this, they hit the church directly'. 'Serious act' The patriarchate, which has jurisdiction for Catholics in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Cyprus, said it 'strongly condemns this strike and this targeting of innocent civilians'. The site was sheltering around 600 displaced people, the majority of them children and 54 with special needs. 'The people in the Holy Family Compound are people who found in the church a sanctuary -- hoping that the horrors of war might at least spare their lives, after their homes, possessions and dignity had already been stripped away,' it said in a statement. Foreign leaders, including from France and Italy, called the attack 'unacceptable'. Gaza's civil defence agency reported that Israeli strikes elsewhere across the Palestinian territory killed at least 22 people today. Out of the Gaza Strip's population of more than two million, about 1000 are Christians. Most of them are Orthodox but according to the Latin Patriarchate, there are about 135 Catholics in the territory. Pope Francis had repeatedly called for an end to the Gaza war, condemning in his final Easter message a day before his death the 'deplorable humanitarian situation' in the Palestinian territory. 'Totally unacceptable' Monsignor Pascal Gollnisch, the head of Catholic charity l'Oeuvre d'Orient, told AFP the raid was 'totally unacceptable'. 'It is a place of worship. It is a Catholic church known for its peaceful attitude, for being a peacemaker. These are people who are at the service of the population,' he said. 'There was no strategic objective, there were no jihadists in this church. There were families, there were civilians.' More than 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for Gaza's population, displacing most residents at least once and triggering severe shortages of food and other essentials. The war was triggered by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 58,667 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties. -Agence France-Presse
RNZ News
17-07-2025
- RNZ News
Pope 'saddened' as Israel strike on Gaza's only Catholic church kills three
By AFP team in Gaza with Alice Chancellor in Jerusalem and Clement Melki in Rome Archbishop Alexios blesses the bodies of Saad Salameh and Foumia Ayyad, killed earlier in an Israeli strike that hit the Holy Family church in Gaza City, during their funeral ceremony at the Saint Porphyrius Church on July 17, 2025. Photo: AFP / Omar Al-Qattaa An Israeli strike on Gaza's only Catholic church killed three people on Thursday (local time), the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said, as Israel said it "never targets" religious sites and regretted any harm to civilians. Pope Leo XIV said he was "deeply saddened" by the loss of life, which a witness said was the result of a tank shell hitting the church. AFP footage showed those injured being treated at Gaza City's Al-Ahli Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, with one receiving oxygen and blood while lying under a foil blanket. Mourners knelt next to two white body bags laid out on the floor. "In the morning a tank shell targeted us and hit the church and a number of civilians were killed and wounded," said Shadi Abu Daoud, a displaced man whose 70-year-old mother was killed in the strike. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem named the dead as Najwa Abu Daoud, Saad Issa Kostandi Salameh and Foumia Issa Latif Ayyad. "This morning, at approximately 10:20 am (0720 GMT), the Compound of the Holy Family in Gaza... was struck by the Israeli army," it said in a statement. "As of this hour, three individuals lost their lives as a result of the injuries sustained and ten others were wounded," including the community's parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, it added, revising a previous toll of two. An AFP photograph showed Father Romanelli with a bandage around his lower leg at Al-Ahli Hospital. Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal confirmed that three people were killed in an Israeli strike on the church in Gaza City, with which the late Pope Francis kept regular contact through the war. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, told Vatican News that: "What we know for sure is that a tank, the IDF says by mistake, but we are not sure about this, they hit the church directly". Christian Palestinians mourn the deaths of the victims at the Saint Porphyrius Church on July 17, 2025. Photo: AFP / Omar Al-Qattaa The patriarchate, which has jurisdiction for Catholics in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Cyprus, said it "strongly condemns this strike and this targeting of innocent civilians". The site was sheltering around 600 displaced people, the majority of them children and 54 with special needs. "The people in the Holy Family Compound are people who found in the Church a sanctuary - hoping that the horrors of war might at least spare their lives, after their homes, possessions and dignity had already been stripped away," a statement read. It came as Gaza's civil defence agency reported that Israeli strikes elsewhere across the Palestinian territory killed at least 22 people. Israel expressed "deep sorrow" over the damage and civilian casualties, adding that the military was investigating, as foreign leaders, including from France and Italy called the strike "unacceptable". "Israel never targets churches or religious sites and regrets any harm to a religious site or to uninvolved civilians," the Israeli foreign ministry said on X. Out of the Gaza Strip's population of more than two million, about 1000 are Christians. Most of them are Orthodox but according to the Latin Patriarchate, there are about 135 Catholics in the territory. Pope Francis repeatedly called for an end to the war which erupted in October 2023 and in his final Easter message, a day before his death on 21 April, he condemned the "deplorable humanitarian situation" in the Palestinian territory. Monsignor Pascal Gollnisch, the head of Catholic charity l'Oeuvre d'Orient, told AFP the raid was "totally unacceptable". "It is a place of worship. It is a Catholic church known for its peaceful attitude, for being a peacemaker. These are people who are at the service of the population," he said. "There was no strategic objective, there were no jihadists in this church. There were families, there were civilians." More than 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for Gaza's population, displacing most residents at least once and triggering severe shortages of food and other essentials. The war was triggered by a Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 58,667 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties. -AFP
