Stove and chimney installed at Sistine Chapel ahead of papal conclave

Firefighters installed the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel on Friday which will emit white smoke to signal the election of a new pope as preparations proceed just five days before cardinals gather for the conclave.

Some 133 Catholic cardinals will gather below Michelangelo's famed frescoes in the 15th-century chapel, situated inside the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican, to elect a successor to Pope Francis. Held behind locked doors, the conclave will signal to the world the outcome by burning ballots in a special stove, with the chimney emitting black smoke if no one has been elected, or white smoke if there is a new pope.

All but four of the cardinal electors -- those aged under 80 -- who can vote in the conclave are already in Rome, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said. Ahead of the election, cardinals of all ages have been meeting daily at the Vatican to discuss the challenges facing the next head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.