As conclave to elect pope begins in Vatican City, a Long Island priest feels 'weight of the moment'

The Rev. Michael Duffy arrived at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City three hours before the start of a 10 a.m. Mass on Wednesday that kicked off the conclave that will elect the next pope.

But the wait was more than worth it for Duffy, who is rector of the Cathedral of St. Agnes parish in Rockville Centre. As the cardinals in their red vestments filed past him inside the cathedral, he knew that one of them would become the successor to Pope Francis and the next leader of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide.

"As they processed in — men from every continent — you could feel the weight of the moment," Duffy said in a text to Newsday. "Among them is the man who will become pope, though only God knows who he is."

"To be there this morning for the solemn Mass for the election of the new pope — surrounded by so many — was to witness history unfolding and grace moving among us," he added. "It is a Mass I will never forget."

Duffy said that when he arrived at the basilica at 7 a.m. hoping to get a good seat for the historic Mass, a crowd was already waiting outside.

"So many had come with the same desire: to be present for the opening Mass of the conclave, where the whole of the Catholic Church invokes the Holy Spirit upon the cardinals themselves," he said.

After the Mass, the cardinals took a break for lunch and some rest. In late afternoon they solemnly processed to the Sistine Chapel and began the business of selecting the next pope.

They took one vote Wednesday evening. If a cardinal had received two-thirds of the votes, white smoke would have been sent out of a chimney installed temporarily on the Sistine Chapel's roof for the conclave — signaling to the world that there was a new pope.

Few Vatican experts expected that to happen on the first day. Instead, it was black smoke — meaning no one had obtained enough votes.

It took about three hours for the smoke to appear after the doors to the chapel had been shut — longer than past conclaves. "The smoke didn’t appear until around 9 p.m., and because it took so long, there was a sense of confusion and speculation building in the crowd," said Duffy, who was in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday night.

"When it finally emerged — black, as expected — there was a ripple of applause. Within minutes, the square emptied out," he said. "The atmosphere was electric. People were already asking each other, ‘Will you be back tomorrow?’ " 

The cardinals will reconvene on Thursday for more voting.

Analysts believe this conclave could be particularly complicated in part because many of the 133 cardinals do not know each other, it is the largest and most geographically diverse group ever for a conclave, and there are divisions between progressives and conservatives.

The Rev. Jerry DiSpigno, another priest from Long Island, was in St. Peter’s Square the night Francis was elected in 2013. He isn’t in Rome this time but will be watching closely for the white smoke.

Before the last conclave, he prayed at the tomb of Pope John XXIII that the next pope would "reopen" a window to the world the way John XXIII did with the Vatican II reforms of the 1960s.

Francis did exactly that, DiSpigno said on Wednesday, and now he is praying that his successor keeps the window open.

It "was a pure gift" to be near the front of the crowd the night Francis was introduced to the world, DiSpigno said.