Gauff, Swiatek intrigued by Vatican’s white smoke moment

Coco Gauff is not a practicing Catholic, but she understands something remarkable is about to happen only a few kilometers away at Vatican City.

“I would go because I feel like it’s an historic thing,” Gauff said Tuesday at the Internazionali d’Italia.

The Conclave that will deliver the successor to Pope Francis, the fourth this century, begins on Wednesday. Some 133 cardinals have gathered and will cast paper ballots up to four times daily until one candidate receives a two-thirds majority, in this case at least 90 votes.

When a winner is declared, white smoke (fumata bianca) rises from the Sistine Chapel chimney. The Vatican then announces We have a pope — “We have a Pope.”

“We talked about it,” Gauff said. “I learned a lot because I don’t know anything about the Catholic religion. With the whole smoke thing, I thought that was cool. I would like to go and see it and be around it since we’re here.”

Italian Catholics, in particular, will cast a keen eye toward the proceedings. The betting favorites, in order: 1) Cardinal Pietro Parolin (Italy), 2) Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle (Philippines), 3) Cardinal Peter Turkson (Ghana). Parolin, the current Vatican Secretary of State, is described as a seasoned diplomat with a pragmatic leadership style that will appear to centrists.

Iga Swiatek is another player excited by the idea of seeing the white smoke.

“I would love to do that, do it just to have the experience,” Swiatek said. “I think it’s going to be super crowded. I think the whole Rome is going to be following.

“But I’ll see logistically how it’s going to look like. Also we don’t know when it’s going to happen, right? Might be couple months. So we’ll see.”