The cardinals tasked with finding a leader for the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics will hold their first full day of voting Wednesday afterfailing on their first attempt to elect a Pope.

The 115 cardinal electors are scheduled to return to the Sistine Chapel, where they are expected to cast four ballots – twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon.

If no pope is chosen Wednesday, the voting will continue until Saturday March 16, when the cardinals will break for a day of prayer and reflection.

On Tuesday, a plume of black smoke billowed from the Vatican, indicating cardinals have not yet chosen a successor for Pope Benedict XVI on the first day of conclave.

Conclave voting entails each cardinal writing his choice on a rectangular piece of paper inscribed with the words “Eligo in summen pontificem” — Latin for “I elect as Supreme Pontiff.”

Holding the folded ballot up in the air, each approaches the altar and places it on a saucer, before tipping it into an oval urn, as he intones these words: “I call as my witness, Christ the Lord, who will be my judge that my vote is given to the one who, before God, I think should be elected.”

After the votes are counted, and the outcomes announced, the papers are bound together with a needle and thread, each ballot pierced through the word “Eligo.” The ballots are then placed in a cast-iron stove and burned with a special chemical.

That’s when all eyes turn to the 6-foot-high copper chimney erected atop the Sistine Chapel to pipe out puffs of smoke to tell the world if there’s a new pope.

Black smoke means “not yet.” White smoke means the 266th pope has been chosen.

Tuesday’s drama unfolded against the backdrop of the turmoil unleashed by Benedict’s surprise resignation and the exposure of deep divisions among cardinals grappling with whether they need a manager to clean up the Vatican’s dysfunctional bureaucracy or a pastor who can inspire Catholics at a time of waning faith and growing secularism.

Surrounded by Michelangelo’s imposing frescoes portraying the beginning and the end of the world, cardinals locked themselves into the Sistine Chapel following a final appeal for unity by their dean and set about the business of electing the 266th pope.

The 115 scarlet-robed prelates chanted the Litany of Saints, the sounds of the Gregorian chant echoing through the soaring hall as, walking two-by-two, they implored the saints to guide their voting. They then took an oath of secrecy, first collectively and then individually, as each placed his right hand on the gospel and intoned the words in Latin accented by their native languages — English, German, French, Italian, Arabic and so on.

Then the master of liturgical ceremonies intoned the words “Extra omnes” — “everyone out” — and dozens of prelates and Vatican officials departed as the chapel’s heavy, ornately carved wooden doors swung shut.

The cardinals then proceeded with the carefully choreographed vote, each writing his choice on a piece of paper, then folding it and tipping it into an …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News