First Ballot...

I watched the chimney via my mobile device all the way through the beginning of the Confirmation class - well, Fr. Finigan was doing that bit. Then the connection froze - possibly my data allowance is nearly gone - and anyway, it was my turn to teach the class. Just before I switched my phone off completely, I got a text message from Vox in Rama announcing the black smoke.

Someone had obviously been given a stern talking-to after the last Conclave, because this time there was absolutely no doubt at all that the smoke was black. It looked rather like a chemistry experiment had gone very wrong, but at least we are absolutely sure of the result of the first ballot...

Fr. James Bradley, of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, (whose Twitter handle is @frjamesbradley) said he'd eat his biretta if there was white smoke tonight. No doubt he's breathing a sigh of relief. His tweets are always entertaining or edifying, or both. My favourite tonight was this one:

My favourite reaction to the black smoke has to be that of the lovely Bones... apparently a pope has  actually been elected:  it's Cardinal Burke, and the burning of the modernists has begun...

And finally it seems that some children from the parish are getting into the swing of things: Annie Elizabeth has been teaching them how to make a chimney... and it seems that the neighbours will be in no doubt once the white smoke appears! I suspect their bell-ringing will be rather more reliable than that of the Vatican!