It's Conclave Week!

Starting Tuesday, Catholic Cardinals from around the world will begin the process of voting on the next pope, a process that is likely to take at least a few days. (We explained the voting process here)

As you probably know, each day after the voting, the Vatican shoots up a puff of smoke into the air to reveal whether a Pope has been selected or not.

Black smoke means no Pope yet. White smoke means there is a Pope.

The device that shoots the smoke up is this awesome, Jules Verne-looking stove. All of the paper ballots along with a chemical (to produce either black or white smoke) are placed in it and burned, alerting the world where the College of Cardinals is at in the voting.