All right, thanks so much for joining us. That is all for early start. Im john berman. And im zoraida sambolin. Starting point starts right now. Our starting point this morning its black smoke and that means no smoke. Black smoke billowing from the chimney at the Sistine Chapel. Happened minutes ago. That means cardinals have not yet picked a pope. But could we see white smoke a little bit later today . Were live in rome and at the vatican for you this morning. Then an intense manhunt is over. Police have a man in custody. Hes accused of murdering his grandparents. Right after they picked him up from prison. Well have developing details in just moments. Fire on the water. A tugboat hits a natural gas pipeline sending at least two to the hospital. Well have the details coming up. And imagine standing on a golf course, when an 18 foot hole opens up right beneath you. This really happened to a guy who was rescued by his friends. And better yet, he joins us live with the story. Its wednesday, march 13th, and starting point begins right now. Welcome everybody. Our starting point this morning, black smoke rising once again from the Sistine Chapel. It happened just moments ago. You see the pictures there. And it is a signal from the 115 cardinal electors that they still have not selected a new pope. It marks the end of a morning session that has featured so far two unsuccessful votes. The cardinals will return four hours from now or afternoon balloting. And at 12 30 this afternoon all eyes will be back on the Sistine Chapels chimney where they are awaiting another smoke signal from those cardinals, if they fail to choose pontiff voting concludes for the day at 2 00 p. M. Want to begin in rome. Chris cuomo is anchoring our coverage this historic morning. Hes joined by anderson cooper, john allen, cnn senior vatican analyst and correspondent for the National Catholic reporter. Gentlemen, good morning. Good morning to you. Were still here waiting for the pope. As part of smoke watch i guess what we can tell you is obviously the smoke was black. It was less than what we saw last night. I guess they did. It also seemed to be twostaged. Which john you suggests could be because two votes to burn. Thats right. They had two rounds of balloting this morning. Each of them 115 ballots and all the notes. Because theres not supposed to be any written record whatsoever of what goes on inside the Sistine Chapel. When i interviewed the papal master of ceremonies after the conclave of 2005 he told me there were occasions where we saw two bursts of smoke because they simply couldnt cram all of that stuff in at once. Part of the pageantry of this, of course, the chimney, the stove they use is from 1939. Its just a big, black kettle stove. Nothing sophisticated. Theres a secondary unit that injects the chemical packs to help color the smoke which so far seems pretty good. The smoke wasnt as dark but it seemed to be there. The important thing is obviously the significance. Three votes, no pope. John you had suggested this is a super tuesday of the conclave. That this is when the leaders must show that they should be a frontrunner, or they go. Its the make or break moment for whoever was at the head of the pack last night. I mean, you know, to extend the metaphor. Last night is the New Hampshire primary. We find out who has legs as a candidate. Today is super tuesday in the sense that whoever that frontrunner is, either closes the deal or begins to lose ground, in which case the cardinals realize this person may not get to that magic two thirds threshold of 77 votes and were going to have to find someone else. And a large crowd had assembled this morning waiting for several hours wanting to be there to see the smoke, whether it was white or black, want to kind of witness the history of it. That crowd is starting to fade. You can see people starting to walk away. No doubt a lot more people will be coming back this afternoon. And with each passing hour, the crowd will be building, with each passing day, in anticipation. Well, sure, because with each round of balloting it becomes more and more probable that were going to get a pope soon. It was somewhat it was a very remote possible ability that we could get a pope this morning. This afternoon and certainly if this goes into tomorrow, i think this crowd will swell. Because if youre going to be there when the the getting a note, black smoke was officially at 11 39. Earlier than we had been anticipating. The rationale, smoke came earlier because once theyre familiar with voting they can move more quickly in terms of casting ballots. Thats a little bit of a mystery answered there. The voting process, when we think of a conclave i think a lot of people might think theyre actually discussing things inside the Sistine Chapel, as weve been discussing, thats not the case. Its much more akin to a religious ceremony than it is kind of an actual discussion. Yeah. What happens inside the Sistine Chapel is much more like going to church than going to a political. They pray, fill out their ballots in absolute silence, process up, drop them and so on. Its all carefully choreographed, and its heavily ritualized. So theres nobody standing up and giving a speech and saying lets vote for that guy. That goes on in another venue which is the hotel on vatican grounds. Right now theyre having their lunch. This being rome it is a rather long break. Yeah. This is not running to the burger king and getting back to your day. Its typical roman lunch, takes two or three hours. They will be off the clock from noon until about 4 00. And yes, this is when a lot of work gets done. This is when a lot of discussion gets done, and as we were talking about last night, after last nights vote, there would be discussions after dinner, probably maybe even late into the night. Of course it depends on whether they get a pope this afternoon or not. Again we dont know the dynamics. It could well be that somebody is just a few votes short of that twothirds threshold, in which case its almost going to be a celebration. Theyre going to know and theyre going to relax. Now it could also be that those votes are spread among two, three, four, five candidates, and theyre going to go in knowing they have an awful lot of heavy lifting to do if they dont want this conclave they have to send a big message with this decision. Because catholic or not the world is watching this church to see if this next pope is a reflection of an urgency about the issues that this church faces. The mood, obviously, most there at st. Peters square. Had been a big crowd anticipating. Will be back later. Miguel marquez, what was the reaction to the early smoke . Well, there was a big, huge reaction. I dont think anybody was expecting that. Now that theyve seen that black smoke, people here in rome are voting with their feet by coming. It appears police have shut off the roads around vatican city and people streaming in at the moment. I think the expectation is that we may have a pope, and white smoke this afternoon. Im with three very lucky here in rome, kevin, and molly. Amazing my head still works. How is it to be well its complete history. Weve never had a pope step down completely under his own will. And so its just amazing to be here for that. And then to be here to witness this craziness thats the conclave. And when you see the white smoke, what will that be like . It will be incredible. History. Honestly its going to be a dream. Why such a big decision this year . How important is it this year . I think its really important you know. The church really needs some direction, and i think that this is going to be the year. What is your feeling . How great are your hopes, how high are your expectations right now . Well, i think that right now, were kind of just going to see. But i think that the cardinals will make a good choice. My host mom here is rooting for card until omalley from boston. All right. Well see. Host mom gets a vote. If she does, chris, its omalley apparently. This place is getting jam packed. Back to you guys. Archbishop cardinal up in boston, obviously. Ordinarily youd laugh that off but fair to say john allen, the first time were mentioning an american as a legitimate part of the dialogue of becoming pope. I think thats a major part of the conclave. In the old days the idea used to be you cant have a pope from the United States because you cant have a superpower pope. You know, america already has too much influence. Everybody would think the cia is somehow managing what happens at the vatican. But you know, we live in a different world. America is no longer the only superpower. My experience with interviewing catholic bishops when you say the word superpower to them, they dont think of the United States, they think of china. So thats changed the calculus somewhat. And there are a couple of americans who are plausible candidates this time. The very media savvy and charismatic Cardinal Timothy dolan of new york and Cardinal Omalley from boston, simple, humble man wearing plain, brown habit, in a country where franciscans are rock stars, which italy certainly is, omalley has exercised the kind of, you know, fascination in the streets of rome that is just incredib incredible. The bar, the roman coffee shops, i was getting a cappuccino this morning and the two girls who work behind the bar were asking me, please, please, please, will the church give us Cardinal Omalley as pope . That just tells you the buzz in the street. Hear from that american, his host mother, they are hoping its Cardinal Omalley. Cardinal Timothy Dolan had gotten a lot of press before this conclave began but omalley really does seem to be getting a lot of attention. I think its a combination of two things. One is the franciscan bit. Which is a religious order founded by francis of assisi and for italians who are used to thinking of clerics, and particularly cardinals, as aloof and aristocratic and given to intrigue, the franciscans are the polar opposite of that. Theyre simple, humble, close to the people. Dolan, however, is very intense. And Cardinal Omalley has received credit here for his handling of some of the sex abuse scandal absolutely. He profiles as a reformer, not from his record in boston, but the two diocese hes been in before he faced similar problems on a smaller scale and had a similar track record as a reformist. Were getting word there will be a presser from the vatican at 1 00 p. M. Local, 8 00 a. M. Eastern standard time. Well be monitoring that, if anything significant to tell well come to you. Until then, soledad. The three of us here on smoke watch. All right, gentlemen, thank you very much. As the catholic faithful wait for news of a new pope, new this morning the catholic archdiocese in los angeles has struck a deal to settle sex abuse lawsuits. Theyve agreed to pay nearly 10 million to four different victims allegedly abused by a defrocked priest who is now serving time in prison. The suit claims Cardinal Roger mahoney knew the priests behavior and allowed him to continue in his position. Right now mahoney is in rome taking part in the conclave. Want to get to monsignor hilgartner. Nice to have you with us. Really appreciate it. How does it feel, this l. A. Story, the cardinal whos now in rome, its a big deal here in the United States, how much of a distraction, a problem, how big of a deal is it there inside the conclave . Well, because theyre cut off from the outside world, they dont know. Unless this happened and they were able to communicate with Cardinal Mahoney before they entered into the conclave yesterday, they have media silence. Its not like they can go back to their rooms at the Domus Santa Marta and put on the tv and check their email. So there is a chance theyre operating without really having any knowledge about this. Correct. It really depends on how when that went down, and were they able to notify Cardinal Omalley since he was involved in that. Obviously so its possible that they have no idea that this happened. We look at these pictures of the black smoke, and it was really interesting. John was on the air and i was watching it. About 20 minutes earlier, everybody thought the vote would come in. How likely does it make it that the next vote, in fact, will be aim successful vote . Well, as john allen just said, we really dont know. There are lots of scenarios. I think that the longer it goes, the more outside the box theyll be thinking. And so, there are a lot of pundits who were saying that a quick conclave would mean an italian pope. If it means trying to break a logjam or a tie between some kind of voting blocs, then the compromise candidate starts to enter into the picture, and maybe thats where we start to see somebody that perhaps nobodys even thought of. Weve got all these short lists of 10, 12 names, and depending upon how things go during their conversations, somebody else gets surfaced, and suddenly rises to the top and it might be somebody thats not even been on a list. A winning pope would need 77 ballots out of the 115 votes to be elected. Give me a sense of, the way you described it, i guess gives me some insight in this which is you have, say five, six people who are now on this list. Does it work that you just sort of narrow it down, the bottom two fall off, or as you say, is it possible that sort of new names keep resurfacing . Well, prior to this year, before the last revision of the rules, they could just keep this logjam going for 21 days, and then it moved to a simple majority. And that doesnt happen now. Pope benedict changed the rule to say it has to be a twothirds majority. So there really has to be support and consensus among the body, which makes good sense. The only difference will be if they get through the end of this week and take the day off, he they return, only the top two names from the last ballot appear on the ballots from then on. So its a winnowing process . Right now it happens as the natural process. So there may we dont know how many names were on the ballot. In the first ballot yesterday you could have had people voting for their friends or trying to honor somebody with some votes because they knew they would never get elected and the winnowing naturally as people gravitate into camps, and it all happens silently, of course, other than the conversations around the dinner table later today, whats going on now. So between now and the end of the week, the process is this natural process as votes start aligning. After that, if they have to go through the day of pause for prayer and discussion, then only two names appear on the ballot. I have absolutely no time to ask you this question, but im going to ask anyway, holy week obviously is so crucial and so important and such a focus for the Catholic Church but i wonder if theres a sense to the cardinals that this has to get done to meet that deadline. There probably is. Its an artificial deadline because it doesnt have to happen. But, they dont want to stay in this sequester long. They dont want to be there. And in the 20th century, no conclave ever lasted longer than four days. And you threw in the sequester word, really, monsignor . Nice to have you with us. As always we appreciate the insight. Coming unin our next hour well talk with the retired archbishop of washington, part of the conclave that chose Pope Benedict xvi. And for the First Time Since the conclave started were expecting a live News Conference at 8 00 a. M. Eastern, less than an hour from now. Were going to bring that to you live when that happens. Other stories making news . Thanks, soledad. An apparent Home Invasion that turned into a hostage situation in maryland is now over. But the search is on for the suspect. Police in jessup maryland say five people, three adults and two children, were inside the home at the time. Police managed to get inside and make sure that everyone was safe. A standoff comes to a dramatic end in oregon. 26yearold Michael Boysen suspected of killing his grandparents in Washington State and stealing their car. He has been captured. Boysen was just released from prison on friday. His grandparents picked him up from prison. They were found dead the next day. A Tactical Team forced its way into buoysons Beachside Motel room in oregon last night. They used Water Cannons to blast down part of the door. He reportedly suffered selfinflicted cuts. He was placed into an ambulance waiting right outside. Happening right now a factory up in flames. Between 40 and 50 firefighters have been battling this huge blaze at a vacant factory in eastern alabama all night. It was reported around 7 00 p. M. Tuesday. The plants been closed since 2008. So far, its just a spectacular fire, no injuries have been reported. Meanwhile an intense, dangerous fire on the water. The coast guard now says its going to let a barge and pipeline fire off the coast of louisiana burn itself out. It started when a tugboat pushing the barge hit a natural gas line. Flames shot about 1,000 feet into the air. Our affiliate wwl reports one person on the tugboat was burned over 75 of his body in Critical Condition right now this morning. A second person was reportedly injured when he was knocked off that boat. Soledad . All right. Theres a teacher whos missing in new orleans and now theres a frantic search under way for her. What exactly happened to this young woman . Well have a live report up next. [ man ] i got this Citi Thankyou card and started earning loads of points. Well leave that there. You got a weather balloon, with points . Yes i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. Go. Keep on going in this direction. Take this bridge over here. There it is [ man ] so i used mine to get a whole new perspective. 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