The papal conclave smoke signal has evolved from an incidental byproduct of burning ballots into a carefully engineered communication tool ...

All eyes will be on a small chimney on the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel today as the Catholic Church’s most senior leaders meet ...

For white smoke, a compound of the chemicals potassium chlorate, lactose, and rosin (also known as Greek pitch) is used, ...

As the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis begins, cardinals will be voting multiple times per day until a ...

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

The result is a mixture of steam and white or light gray smoke that contrasts sharply with the dark, carbon-rich black smoke. Over the years, the papal conclave smoke signal has evolved from an ...

A new pontiff has been selected on the second day of the conclave. The signal was met with an eruption of cheers from the ...

At the end of each voting round, black smoke means a new pope has not yet to be selected, while white smoke indicates a new ...

The use of chemicals to ensure either black or white smoke was introduced after the 1958 conclave when damp straw added to papers from an unsuccessful ballot did not ignite at first. White smoke ...

White smoke was seen emerging from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel. This means a new pontiff has been elected on the ...

The first secret conclave voting round went ahead today but no pope was elected as shown by the black smoke rising from the ...

The same goes for the afternoon voting – if there is a two-thirds consensus after the first round of balloting in the ...