the eyes of the world, now on the vatican, the vote for the pope is one of the world s most intriguing election processes here. also, one of the most secret. tomorrow, cardinals from around the world will lock themselves inside the sistine chapel and will not come out until a new pope has been chosen. and at this point in time, it is still anyone s guess who will appear on the balcony of the vatican, revealing himself as the next head of the roman catholic church. until then, we wait and we watch. we have talked about the smoke watch, keep in mind, if it is black, no decision has been made. if it is white, we have a pope. last time there was a bit of confusion. we didn t know if the smoke was black or white. this time around, the vatican says they re now adding more chemicals to the mix. so we will know if we have a pope with that white smoke. chris cuomo is live for us in rome, and, chris, this is the biggest decision the church has to make.
international correspondent in rome for us right now. and as we mentioned, there is still a lot going on. still a lot to do here before the conclave even begins to then decide who the next pope is. what is taking them so long? reporter: well, certainly what we saw all week, brooke, was some very intense discussions among the cardinals talking about issues of governance, some of the leaks that have taken place over the last few years with the vatican, a lot to discuss, a lot to deal with before they finally got around, after five days of discussions, to deciding upon the date of the conclave. and as you said, they still have a lot of work to do yet before they go tuesday afternoon into the conclave. they ll just have one vote in the sistine chapel on tuesday, followed by four a day until they finally come up with that white smoke declaring we have a
where the conclave takes place. we re waiting to see the chimney go up on top of the sistine chapel where black smoke means no pope and white smoke means, in latin, we have a pope. people all over this town are incredibly anxious know what the outcome will be. people directly connected to the vatican, the goldsmith will make all the new gifts that the pope will take on overseas trips, religious gifts. he will have to include a new coat of arms on the gifts that he makes for the pope to take abroad. i asked him what he thought, what his gut was telling him where the vote might go and here s what he had to say. translator: the famous roman saying we roam manz who are close to the vatican have he who enters goes in as favorite because he is not elected. reporter: apparently, bill, the vatican signed off on this website, adopt a
ever seen in modern history. we have a pope who has made a decision that he is going to step down. he will be pope emeritus. and there is this opportunity for this final good-bye, this final appearance, a general audience one day before he steps down as leader of the catholic church. this traditional pope making what is a stunningly modern decision because of his health, because of his energy, he wants to lead the rest of his life in prayer. this is a church at a time when it needs vitality, that he cannot physically give to us. george, you spoke yesterday when we were talking about the idea that, even though i think initially there was a feeling that this was a great act of humility. he s kissing another child and yet another again. a remarkable and moving moment. some very happy parents.
with the process after the death of pope john paul ii. white smoke coming 24 hours after the voting began signaling the start of pope benedict s eight years heading the church. today we went down where it all happened down in vatican city. as of february 28 the papal apartment will be vacant and as the rules dictate, they will have 15-20 days to bring all the cardinals around the world here, under the age of 80. they will lock themselves in the sistine chapel and begin the process. there will be secret ballots, after each ballot paper slips will be burned. white smoke will arise when they have news of great joy. we have a pope. that announcement will come right there from the balcony just as it did in this very spot eight years ago. shep: we don t know when it will happen but we ll get a better idea tomorrow.