Father Federico Lombardi passed the time describing to journalists the cartridges which are used to create the smoke. When "asked if the smoke harmed the Michelangelo frescoes on the walls of the Sistine Chapel, or the cardinals' lungs," he could reassure them with a negative.
Even outside of the press briefing, journalists were still assembled, thronging around St. Peter's Basilica like worker bees around their queen:
THE Guardian's liveblog helpfully noted that Barça (Barcelona FC) has played three games during papal conclaves, and that they've won each of them 4-0. Yesterday it was AC Milan which bit the dust. Other Catholics and non-Catholics were also celebrating the conclave and preparing for the final decision in their own particular, if untraditional ways: e.g. displays of irreverent wit on Twitter, and this:
Source: @thepioneerwoman
Then came the grand moment in which the tide of smoke turned:
White smoke!
proclaimed the Huffington Post at 6:06 p.m. UTC. The cry amplified through different newspaper websites, television broadcasts, and blogs, in Italian and Portuguese and Greek and Spanish and all sorts of other languages.
THEN came the seemingly interminable wait until the name of the pope would be given.
