Thousands gather at St. Peter’s Square
‘Gathering beneath a brilliant sky, thousands of pilgrims converged on St. Peter’s Square on Monday as cardinals held a Mass before shutting themselves inside the Sistine Chapel to begin their election of a new pope.
Thousands of people passed through metal detectors to get into St. Peter’s Basilica for the midmorning Mass celebrated by the 115 crimson-robed cardinals who will elect the successor to John Paul II, while thousands more followed the service on giant screens set up in the square.
Many gazed up at the chimney on the slanted roof of the chapel, where white smoke will eventually signal to the world that the church’s 265th pontiff has been elected. The famous stove in the chapel, where the “princes” of the church will convene later in the day, will bellow black smoke to signal any inconclusive session of voting.
The cardinals were to sequester themselves inside the chapel in the afternoon after a solemn procession from the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.’
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