Vatican
City, 9 March 2013
(VIS) – The chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, which will
emit the smoke to indicate the election (white smoke) or
non-election (black smoke) of a pope, was installed this morning,
three days before the Conclave is scheduled to begin. That, however,
is not the only change taking place in the chapel. Vatican Television
is recording the preparations and those images are then distributed
to all media outlets that request it for broadcasting around the
world.
Work
began on Tuesday, 5 March, at 1:00pm when restorers, electricians,
mechanics, carpenters, seamstresses, assemblers, electronic
technicians and other labourers from various areas of competence
suddenly replaced the hundreds of tourists who visit the Sistine
Chapel every day. “The Chapel is closed to the public. We are
preparing for the Conclave,” employees respond to the questions
asked by perplexed visitors who are trying to finish their tour of
the Vatican Museums with a glimpse of Michelangelo's “Creation of
Adam”.
Journalists
are already in the know. The Director of the Holy See Press Office,
Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., has been holding daily press
conferences, giving a general overview of the proceedings of the
General Congregations and explaining the images of the preparations
that are being carried out around Vatican City. From within the
Sistine Chapel we see scaffolding around the stoves that will burn
the ballots to erect the stove pipe that releases the smoke from the
roof of the chapel, shorter tubing for the scaffolding that will
elevate the floor and create a uniform area to work on, lengths of
cloth and the seamstresses sowing them together to create table
covers...
On
Wednesday, 6 March, for example, Vatican Television provided raw
video of workers installing a large platform for the chimney and
flooring sheets over the original mosaic pavement, both to protect
the mosaics and to make it easier to build the elevated floor above
it, which will provide the cardinals with an even expanse to walk and
work upon.
Around
the altar, 115 cherry wood chairs have been put in place, each
engraved with the name of the cardinal who will occupy it, with 12
wooden tables covered in beige and bordeaux fabric where the
cardinals will prepare their ballots. They will cast their votes in
front of Michelangelo's fresco of “The Last Judgment” on the wall
of the altar.
After
the chimney is installed it will be submitted to a series of tests
using chemicals to emit a yellow smoke so as not to confuse the
increased number of passers-by in St. Peter's Square. The chimney is
just the last piece of the mechanism that will produce the smoke. The
two iron stoves it is attached to were installed yesterday. The first
stove, cast in 1938, has the dates of the five Conclaves it has been
used in etched upon it—from the one electing Pius XII in 1939 until
the latest, in 2005, when Cardinal Ratzinger became Benedict XVI.
This
older oven is used to burn the balloting papers. The modern one,
equipped with an electronic device, will add the chemicals to produce
the black or white smoke indicating the result of the voting until
the election occurs. There are two voting sessions planned for each
morning and each afternoon that the Conclave continues. At the
moment, the chimney is at the centre of the media's curiosity. Next
Tuesday afternoon it will hold the attention of millions around the
world.
Besides
the Cardinal electors, the only others who will be present in the
Sistine Chapel are the Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations and
Cardinal Prospero Grech, O.S.A., who will preach the second
meditation provided for in No. 13 of the Apostolic Constitution
“Universi Dominici Gregis” to the Cardinal electors.
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