The Vatican on installed a special chimney on the Sistine Chapel from which white smoke will signal the election of a new pope as cardinals prepare for the historic vote next week after Benedict XVI’s resignation.
The conclave of 115 “cardinal electors” will begin on Tuesday under Michelangelo’s famous frescoes to choose the 266th pope following the abrupt end to Benedict’s eight-year papacy which was often overshadowed by scandals. French cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, the Archbishop of Paris, told AFP in an interview that there were around “half a dozen possible candidates.” AFP