The 2025 Conclave has begun, but what do the smoke colours actually mean?

Following the tragic death of Pope Francis in 2025, cardinals at the Vatican have begun the time-honoured tradition of a Conclave that includes mysterious rituals, an undesignated time frame, and the employment of different coloured smoke.

According to Catholic tradition, the first pope was St. Peter, one of Jesus’s twelve apostles, who was given the role by big J himself. Though the tradition has changed and evolved over the course of two millennia, the Conclave as we know it can be traced back to 1059.

Now that the process to elect a new Pope has begun, the only form of communication between the cardinals and the outside world will be through smoke signals, arguably one of the oldest forms of communication and a method which has been employed in ancient cultures across the globe. Here’s what to keep an eye out for.

Here’s what the smoke colours mean at the 2025 Conclave

The election to pick a new Pope officially started on Wednesday, May 7, but there’s no telling just how long it will last. The College of Cardinals has convened in the Sistine Chapel, where they are held under lock and key until a decision is made by placing ballots in a chalice atop the altar. Candidates require a two-thirds majority to be elected, and there can be four rounds of voting per day. While the conclave that elected Pope Francis only took 24 hours and five ballots, earlier conclaves have seen longer periods of voting such as four months and three years!

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The process of burning ballots was started in 1417, but since 1914, the presence of white smoke has indicated the election of a new Pope and black smoke as no Pope. It was actually Pope Pius X who mandated the burning of ballots in 1904, a move that also helped to increase the volume of smoke for the outside world to see.

Credit: Vandeville Eric/ABACA/Shutterstock

After a disastrous result in the 1958 Conclave, which blew both white and black smoke out of the chimney, the Vatican employed some handy chemistry to ensure the message was never garbled again. To generate black smoke, potassium perchlorate, anthracene, and sulfur are electrically ignited, while for white smoke, potassium chlorate, milk sugar and pine rosin are set aflame.

Following the arcane rituals and admin work today, it’s expected that voters will only take part in one round of voting before calling it a day. According to USA TODAY, it means we can expect the conclave to make the smoke announcement around seven to eight pm local time.

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Featured image credit: Vandeville Eric/ABACA/Shutterstock & 60 Minutes