Seminarians at the Saint John Vianney College Seminary of the University of St. Thomas were interviewed by KSTP-TV regarding the smokestack they made to imitate the one at the Vatican. Just like the Vatican, the smoke will change from black to white when a new pope has been selected.
From the story:
Saint John Vianney College Seminary built the chimney for the announcement of the new pope.
Seminarian Brennan Crow ’26: This is a great sign of unity, right? The Pope is a symbol of unity in the Church, as Christians and for the whole world.
Father Jim Olofson: We want to be like St Peter’s. We want to be like the Sistine Chapel. So we have the smoke going up top. And I think it’s going to be very fun to see the white smoke coming whenever we have the Pope in Rome elected.
Seminarians are closely watching a live stream from the Vatican, so they’ll know when they can start up the black or white smoke.
