Anticipation

This morning, after class was finished, I met Bro. Javi and we made our way to St. Peter's to look for white smoke.  We arrived in the Piazza around a little before 11:00 and I was surprised by how many people were already gathered there.

The crowd gathers.

It was cold.  It rained on and off.  But, there was excitement in the air.  A group of sisters sang nearby.  Various press personnel were working the crowd.  A seminarian was reading a book by Cardinal Scola.  A construction worker laboring on the colonnade stepped out onto the scaffolding and snapped a quick picture of the crowd.  A sister in the papal residence did the same.  The piazza was getting more and more crowded.  And there I was.  Looking at a chimney.  In the rain. 

All eyes are on you, baby.

Chimney Cam

Around 11:45 the smoke began to puff out of the chimney.  Was this it?  From the crowd you heard, "Fumo, fumo, fumo.....ahhhhhh, nero, nero."  (Smoke, smoke, smoke......ahhhhhhh, black, black.)  Talk about the balloon deflating :(  Actually, it was still quite a bit of fun.  And as I said, yesterday, history in the making.

Looks like black smoke.

Back to praying for the Cardinals.

And so we return this afternoon to wait again. 

Ciao!