Since 1914, white smoke has indicated the election of a new pope. A stereotypical association of the colour of the smoke – white (positive) and black (negative) – lies behind the use of the two ...

Leo, the first American and second Latin American pope, celebrated his inaugural Mass at the Vatican after waving to the ...

For nearly 800 years the Catholic Church has utilised the process of the conclave ... Catholics utilise smoke in many rituals in the form of incense. Incense (from the Latin incendere, meaning “to ...

or of burning incense in tradition - as a form of human communication with the divine," Candida Moss, a theology professor at the University of Birmingham, told the BBC. "In Catholic tradition, ...