The new pope | Live commentary
As Catholics around world await the emergence of white smoke from St. Peter's to indicate the selection of a new pope, Philadelphians offer their informed commentary as it happens with live analysis by the Inquirer Opinion Desk.
Bill Donaghy — a senior lecturer and content specialist for the Theology of the Body Institute. He has lectured extensively for over two decades both internationally, and across the United States, on the topics of the Catholic faith, marriage, family, and Christian anthropology.
Michelle Francl-Donnay — chemist and Catholic theologian. She is a professor at Bryn Mawr College, an adjunct scholar at the Vatican Observatory, and a parishioner at Our Mother of Good Counsel in Bryn Mawr. Her two most recent books are “Prayer: Biblical Wisdom for Seeking God” and “Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea.”
Tia Noelle Pratt — assistant vice president and director of Mission Engagement and Strategic Initiatives in the Office for Mission and Ministry at Villanova University. Dr. Pratt’s first book, Black and Catholic: Racism, Identity, and Religion will be published in September 2025 by University of Notre Dame Press.
Sabrina Vourvoulias — senior opinion editor for commentary, ideas & community engagement at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the author of “Nuestra América: 30 Inspiring Latinas/Latinos Who Have Shaped the United States.”
Bethany Welch — a Sister of Saint Joseph of Philadelphia whose professional and ministerial roles have included nonprofit management, policy analysis, research, teaching, and advocacy. She was received into the Roman Catholic Church in 2005 through the RCIA program at Visitation BVM in Kensington, worked at St. Thomas Aquinas parish in South Philly, and is currently a parishioner at St. Raymond of Peñafort in northwest Philadelphia.
Black smoke means no new pope today
I would have been VERY surprised if an election happened on the first ballot. This first vote allows the cardinals to "read the room" so to speak.
— Tia Noelle Pratt
The black smoke pouring from the Sistine Chapel chimney, the most famous chimney in the world, is a signal that now we prayed and processed a little bit. Now to rest and as the Italians say, may we have “Sogni d’oro” (“dreams of gold”)… Or maybe dreams of white smoke in the morning?
— Bill Donaghy
My prayers rise like incense — and the black smoke — for the cardinals' work tomorrow!
— Michelle Francl-Donnay
How do popes choose their names?
It flows from deep prayer I’m sure, and a sense of what figure of inspiration the world may need right now.
I think it comes after time spent in the Room of Tears. That’s the little antechamber within the Sistine Chapel where the new pope is dressed for the new role he’s been “gifted” and has a moment to process what just happened, usually … in tears.
— Bill Donaghy
Once a cardinal has the required 2/3 vote, he has two questions: Does he accept? If yes, he's asked the second questions: With what name will he serve? The name is known before the new pope leaves the Sistine Chapel.
Photos of crowds in St. Peter's Square waiting to see the smoke after the first vote of the conclave
Commentators draw inspiration from past popes as they wait for the 'holy smoke'
We can start with Pope Francis:
“We, the women and men of the church, we are in the middle of a love story: each of us is a link in this chain of love. And if we do not understand this, we have understood nothing of what the Church is.” (Pope Francis, Homily, Chapel of the Casa Santa Marta, April, 2013)
From Pope John Paul II:
At St. Peter's Square, crowds gather to wait for smoke to indicate the results of the first vote
Grateful for the witness of those assembled in St. Peter’s Square as the sun begins to fade. Many may be in Rome for meetings (like the women religious gathered for UISG) or be on a school trip, vacation, or study, yet they showed up. Perhaps to pray. Or for the spectacle.
Either way, this is the invitation to each person, to respond to the movement within and to discern next steps. The same prayer I have for the cardinals is what I pray for myself, for those who wish to see the Roman Catholic Church thrive. May we be less self-referential and more tuned into opportunities for accompaniment and mercy, relationship and kinship, justice and charity.
— Bethany Welch
If a cardinal can't speak both Latin and Italian can they still be elected pope?
No, language won't on its own exclude a cardinal from getting elected, but it will be a consideration. Italian is the working language. Even the cardinals who were elevated four months ago should have been working on their Italian.
— Tia Noelle Pratt
I would go out on a limb and say that Italian language skills are probably top of mind, as so much of the day-to-day running of things happens in Italian.
— Michelle Francl-Donnay
When is the first vote expected, and has any pope been elected on the first vote?
Smoke is expected at 1 p.m. EST, 7 p.m. Rome time.
— Bill Donaghy
John Paul I was elected on the first ballot in 1978. He was dead a month later.
— Tia Noelle Pratt
Where do the cardinals sleep while sequestered during the conclave?
The electors are housed in the Casa Santa Marta — Pope Francis never moved out after his election.
— Michelle Francl-Donnay
What do Catholics do while they wait for the first conclave vote to take place?
I have the windows open and am listening to the sounds of the birds (and the lawnmowers, this is the 'burbs) — apt as for the last three days I have been (virtually) at a conference in Assisi, wrestling with a proposal for a new liturgical feast around the mystery of creation, prompted in large measure by Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato si'.
Thinking, too, of the cardinals, who must have been listening hard these last days and now, to each other, to the Church, to the world, to the Spirit.
— Michelle Francl-Donnay
In terms of prayer and contemplation as the conclave convenes, I’ve been listening to Veni Sancte Spiritus from Taizé and my convent community has been praying together at various times. Mostly simple prayers for a spirit of unity, peace and wisdom to prevail.
— Bethany Welch
And silence has descended at the conclave
The smoke after a conclave vote should send an unambiguous signal — but one time it did not
As a chemist, the smoke is an interesting bit of trivia. It used to be that they added damp straw to get the black smoke, but it didn't always send an unambiguous signal (most memorably in 1958 for the conclave that elected Pope John XXIII). Now they add a cartridge with specific chemicals to get the colors.
The chemistry is related to the chemistry of fireworks. White smoke is generated by a mix of lactose (milk sugar, the fuel), potassium chlorate (the oxidizer, essentially the igniter) and pine rosin. Black smoke is produced by a mixture of potassium perchlorate (playing the same role as the potassium chlorate), anthracene (coal tar) and sulfur (the fuel) which burns black.
— Michelle Francl-Donnay
» READ MORE: Pope Francis’ approach to science and faith emphasized our duty to wield both with care
If you haven't been at St. Peter's Square during a papal election, is there anything comparable?
I was on the faculty at St. Joseph's University and on campus the day of Pope Francis' brief visit in 2015. The energy was different. There was a palpable, yet prayerful, excitement. Then...complete silence. Then, all of a sudden, there he was — POPE FRANCIS! Those who were gathered erupted in cheers and applause!
— Tia Noelle Pratt
In 2016 I walked with a group of pilgrims in Rome through the Holy Door of St. Peter's for the Jubilee Year of Mercy. People were singing and swaying, and at the last it felt like I was being swept along a river as we went through the square and then the door. All the different languages I heard, it made me think of the scenes of Pentecost.
— Michelle Francl-Donnay
There are two languages any cardinal elected as pope must speak
Italian is the official language of Vatican City while Latin is the official language of the Holy See. That's why Pope Benedict XVI made his resignation announcement in Latin. Italian is the working language among cardinals as well as for both Vatican City and the Holy See.
— Tia Noelle Pratt
Tia makes a good point, the cardinals are electing both a head of state for Vatican City State — a political entity — and a spiritual head for the whole of the Catholic Church — a spiritual body. The official languages map onto those roles. My appointment letter to the Vatican Observatory came in Italian, not Latin. The new pope will need serviceable Italian.
— Michelle Francl-Donnay
I believe it’s been typical the last number of popes that they address [those gathered in St. Peter's Square] in a more colloquial Italian. That was the first phrase out of Pope Francis‘s mouth, “good evening!” In Italian !
— Bill Donaghy
The cardinals have processed into the Sistine Chapel to begin the voting, behind locked doors
Watching the cardinals process into the Sistine Chapel, while the litany of the saints is sung, and I am struck by the great diversity of the body and the gift of the cloud of witnesses in time beyond time. What happens here echoes across eternity. Not because the Church is great but because God is. Wherever we gather with attention and intention, the Spirit’s movement can be felt.
— Bethany J. Welch
» READ MORE: It’s time for a Black pope for the Catholic Church. Actually, it’s way past time.
Why have non-Catholics been so interested in the conclave and papal election?
I think there's an inherent religious sense in most people. A kind of hunger for meaning and a longing for transcendence. The ancient rituals and liturgy of the Catholic Church speak into this longing. I think we also find something attractive about a new pope being elected because there's a kind of comfort in having a "holy father", a figure who strives to be a conscience for the world and an advocate for the poor.
I think the eyes of the world are on Rome because our age has been saturated by technology and we're losing touch with the authentically human. The concept if having a pope, or Pontiff from the Latin "pontifex" or bridge-builder, is very attractive. We're feeling a bit lost in this digital age, and the idea of a pope helps to humanize and bring us back to the truth that we are a human family. The mission of the pope is to always remind humanity that we are made ultimately for communion and love, not conquest and consumerism.
— Bill Donaghy
To add to Bill's comments about what is so intriguing to non-Catholics about this process, I wonder if some of it is the ways in which Catholic traditions pull in so many of the senses: the colors, the smoke, the incense, the bells, the water.
— Michelle Francl-Donnay