Simply put, a conclave is the assembly of cardinals that elects a pope. The word itself comes from the Latin "com" and "clavis," meaning "together" and "key," respectively – highlighting the absolute, ...

Here's how the conclave creates black and white smoke and why the Catholic Church began using them to signal whether a new pope has been elected.

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Wednesday ended with black smoke streaming from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, signaling that the cardinals had not chosen a new pontiff to succeed the late Pope Francis. As the conclave began ...

On the afternoon of Thursday, May 8, white smoke from the Sistine Chapel's chimney billowed into the sky, prompting waves of ...

Cardinals failed again Thursday morning to find a successor to Pope Francis, sending black smoke billowing up through the Sistine Chapel chimney after two more inconclusive rounds of conclave voting.

The smoke signal means the winner secured at least 89 votes of the 133 cardinals participating in the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis. White smoke billows from the chimney of the ...

Catholic cardinals are gathering at the Vatican to elect the successor to Pope Francis, who died on April 21. Voting will take place in the Sistine Chapel, with ballots continuing in succession until ...

The largest and most geographically diverse papal conclave in history is set to commence ... which wafts up through the Sistine Chapel chimney to signal no choice has been made. When a new pope is ...

Meanwhile, the Vatican's press office denied Cardinal Parolin was ill Vatican firefighters installed a chimney on the Sistine Chapel roof for the upcoming conclave to elect Pope Francis ...

A solitary chimney above the Sistine Chapel will soon be the most watched object in the world. After each round of voting during the conclave to choose a new pope, the ballots are burned ...

Workers attached a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel ... for what's known as a "conclave" to determine the next pope and head of the some 1.4 billion Catholics around the world.