The Vatican’s age-old tradition of using smoke signals to announce the outcome of papal elections has received a modern scientific upgrade. For centuries, the faithful looked to the Sistine Chapel’s ...

The process to elect a new pope began on Wednesday, May 7, in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, where 133 cardinal-electors from 70 countries gathered to choose a successor to Pope Francis. As the day’s ...

Stoves used in a complex, but not quite ancient, tradition have arrived in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. In a few days, they will be used to generate smoke that will mark the progress of the conclave in ...