Waiting for smoke and bells.

This article presents the author's experience in Rome after death of Pope John Paul II. The author says that whenever he gets to Rome, he always experience it as an especially aggressive mixture of the sacred and the profane. He arrived in Rome as John Paul's funeral Mass was ending. The most striking thing for him during the interregnum was the amount of talk that went on about something no one could know much about-who was going to be pope. Another strange element to this week was the amount of time, energy, personnel and resources all news organizations spent covering the papal conclave.