What black and white smoke means After the cardinals' votes are counted, the paper ballots are burned in a stove in the Sistine Chapel. Black smoke emerging from the chimney means the world's 1.4 ...

Black and white smoke is used to represent the cardinals' decisions each day, as they are sequestered and cannot share this news directly. If one candidate doesn't receive the necessary two-thirds ...

Cousins from both the branches of Pope Leo XIV's extended family, the side that passed for white and the side that remained Black, are eager to reconnect.