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Vatican City.- The Vatican has deployed its powerful media apparatus to follow the conclave, resorting to its extensive and varied multimedia galaxy and numerous cameras and drones that show this ancient rite with almost cinematic detail.
On this second day, his YouTube channel maintains its focus on the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, awaiting news from the cardinals locked inside, and, although the shot is fixed, it has already managed to capture the attention of tens of thousands of people.
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It's midday in Rome and the 'Vatican News' broadcast on the 'streaming' platform has almost 65,000 people watching live. And that's just on the Italian channel, as it has eleven other languages.
The shot is static, only animated by a few seagulls: the chimney installed on the roof of the Sistine Chapel that will announce to the world if the 133 cardinals locked inside have elected a new pope: black smoke will mean there is no agreement; white, 'habemus papam'.
However, at 11.50 local time (9.50 GMT), at the moment the chimney emitted its second black plume, viewers on the YouTube channel neared 70,000.
The conclave, the ancient ceremony with which the church elects its popes in the utmost secrecy, sparks fascination not only for its solemnity but also for the beautiful settings in which it takes place, in the Vatican Apostolic Palace.
The rite began on Wednesday afternoon with the cardinals in a moment of prayer in the Vatican's Pauline Chapel, built in 1540 by Paul III and decorated with impressive multicolored frescoes that narrate passages from the lives of the apostles Peter and Paul.
Then the cardinals paraded, singing litanies and the 'Veni Creator,' until their confinement in the Sistine Chapel, where they have isolated themselves again today for a new vote under the severity of Michelangelo's Last Judgment and the paintings of other great masters of art.
The procession was shown in detail by the Vatican cameras, with a completely cinematic appearance, aerial movements and cranes, which captured the grandeur of the moment, up to the low-angle shot that decreed the closing of the chapel doors.
The smoke signals, for example, are shown to people on giant screens in St. Peter's Square and, when they occur, are recorded by drones that fly over the monumental heights of St. Peter's Basilica to show a more detailed image.
The Holy See has made numerous platforms available to follow this occasion: the YouTube live stream captures thousands of people around the world on its multiple language channels: Italian, Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, German or Polish.
Vatican Radio broadcasts its special programming in eleven languages, and social networks such as Facebook and Instagram offer minute-by-minute details and live streams to their millions of followers.
The televisions of the Holy See also follow every moment of the conclave from a studio installed at the top of the so-called 'Brazo de Carlo Magno', the left side of Bernini's colonnade, and have reporters among the thousands of faithful in the square.
The first 'smoke', that of Wednesday night, was followed on its channels in seven languages, but the successive ones, awaiting the white one, the broadcast increases to twelve languages, as Arabic, Vietnamese and sign language will be added.
The official coverage of the Holy See is also at an editorial level in up to a total of 56 publications in multiple languages, especially in the different editions of 'L'Osservatore Romano', the official newspaper of the pontiffs.
In addition to the official Vatican service, thousands of journalists from all over the world have arrived in Rome to cover the event in the streets, although the Holy See has also installed two platforms for some television stations in front of St. Peter's Square and at the beginning of the Via della Conciliazione.
