To announce that the new Pope has been chosen. They keep burning the ballots, and gray smoke means the votes haven’t been finalized yet; white smoke means they have.
For that matter, how do they make the gray smoke? And I’m sure this must be symbolic: the ballots alone can’t produce that much smoke.
According to some commentators on TV, wet straw was used to make the gray smoke, the white smoke from just the paper ballots alone.
The diffficulty of destinguishing between the two smoke colors resulted in the pope requesting that bells be rung to announce the selection of a new pope to remove any uncertainty.
I see. Thank you.
During the last ecumenical council ( yes, I’m that old) I thought it was said that the white smoke was actually steam.
http://italian.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.catholic-pages.com/pope/election.asp
Quote: “The Cardinals all take seats around the wall of the Sistine Chapel and take a ballot paper on which is written “Eligo in summum pontificem” – “I elect as supreme Pontiff…”. They then write a name on it, fold it, and then proceed one by one to approach the altar, where a chalice stands with a paten on it. They hold up their ballot high to show that they have voted, then place it on the paten, and then slide it into the chalice. The votes are then counted by the Cardinal Camerlengo and his three assistants. Each assistant reads the name, reads the name aloud, writes it down on a tally sheet and then passes it to the next assistant. The third assistant runs a needle and thread through the centre of each ballot to join them all together. The ballots are then burned, as well as all notes made. If a new Pope has been elected, the papers are burned with chemicals (it used to be wet straw) to give white smoke. Otherwise, they give off black smoke, so that the waiting crowds, and the world, know whether their new Holy Father will soon emerge from the Sistine Chapel.”