Vatican News on X this morning (formerly known at Twitter) stated that there was white smoke this morning and we have a new pope!
This is Silieri non Possum’s headline for this gaff. Push the title for their English post:
Vatican News Blunder: If Mediocrity Were a Virtue, They’d Be Canonised by Now
Money byte:
At 11:51 a.m., the black smoke was officially announced. But at 11:59 a.m., the Vatican News X account suddenly posted: “11:59 White smoke.” For a few minutes, the world held its breath. Too bad it was all fake. What had been mistaken for a new white smoke was simply the tail end of the dissolving black smoke. A serious error, especially given the sensitivity of the moment and the global attention focused on the Sistine Chapel chimney. But more than a mere technical glitch, the episode casts a (black) light on the chronic improvisation of Vatican communications. The team led by Andrea Tornielli once again proves itself utterly inadequate—not only in managing the flow of information, but also in grasping the basic workings of ecclesial dynamics and curial rituals. And this was not the only misstep. Already last night, the frantic anticipation for the 7 p.m. smoke confused the international press, while in reality, as scheduled (but not communicated), the cardinals were attending a meditation by Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, which lasted longer than expected. Only afterwards was the first vote held. But no one—not even the Director of the Press Office, Matteo Bruni—thought to inform journalists that the evening would unfold quite differently from the subsequent days.
The communication management of this Conclave has become a faithful reflection of a system that, for years, has abandoned competence in favour of uncritical loyalty. In a recent address, Antonio Spadaro—one of the most omnipresent faces of the outgoing pontificate—proudly declared that Pope Francis had fought against meritocracy. Nothing could be truer: Spadaro and Tornielli are its embodiment. Were meritocracy truly in charge of the Vatican, they might today be tending a vegetable garden—not overseeing the communication of a Conclave. The problem is not just incompetence: it is the systemic promotion of mediocrity, the normalisation of approximation, the institutionalisation of slapdash work. This is nothing new, but the 2025 Conclave is making it glaringly evident—minute by minute, smoke after smoke. And as we wait for genuine white smoke to finally emerge from the chimney, we are left with the lingering suspicion that the real smoke, these past years, has been in the eyes of those who chose to believe that evangelical simplicity was equivalent to amateurism.
E.C.
Silere non possum
E.C.
Silere non possum
1 comment:
As the Pillar Boyz have mentioned multiple times, the "Dicastery" for Communications has the largest budget of any Vatican office by far--with no clear indications what they actually use it for. I guess we know how they're using their budget now.
Nick
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