Vatican spokesman: Conclave is like ‘a retreat’

>> morning. greg burke is the vatican 's senior communications adviser. mr. burke, good morning to you.

>> good morning, savannah.

>> there was a little bit of question about whether we were seeing white smoke or black the this morning. i can show you images we received this morning. they were ambiguous. on behalf of jumpy news people everywhere is there anything you can do about the spoke? last night's was a great deal blacker, was it not?

>> i was going to say, there were a lot of tweets saying very, very black smoke . there was no doubt about it. i have to admit this morning brought back memories from eight years ago where the white smoke was gray for a long time. we spent five or ten minutes trying to figure it out until they started ringing the bells and told us. they will do it as well. today showed you there may be an initial 30 seconds of doubt but after a that it's pretty black.

>> it would have been extraordinary to have a pope selected today. in fact, with no clear front runner as far as all of us on the outside know, how much urgency is there among the cardinals to select a pope within a few days? are they concerned a longer a conclave goes on the more people on the outside feel there is contentiousness within the ranks and it diminishes the person who is ultimately selected?

>> well, savannah, they are aware of that -- if it goes on too long that is the case. there are important things to remember here. you need two-thirds of the cardinals. that's a really broad consensus. if it were to happen, if it had happened this morning that would have been a great surprise, as you said. the other thing is they are aware of what people are thinking on the outside to a certain degree, but not really. they are locked off from television, the newspapers and the rest. as of yesterday the climate changed. they have gone into essentially a retreat. a lot of catholics, christians retreat for a day, two days, five days, sometimes a month. i don't think they will do that. this is a retreat for the catholic church . they go in to pray. they are not too worried at this point of getting it over in a day or two days. some people said getting back by palm sunday. but really choosing the person they believe should lead the catholic church .

>> as you mentioned, they were not unaware of what's going on in the outside world and i know the discussion centered on that. we heard of the los angeles diocese settling a handful of sexual abuse cases for $10 million. how much concern is there that the next pope is somebody who is able to restore credibility to the institution, get a handle on the scandals -- whether it's the sex abuse scandal or some of the financial and government scandals the vatican has seen.

>> i think some of that came out if the general congregations and the american bishops spoke clearly as well. it's a broad issue of responsibility, of accountability. they have made great progress in terms -- because of the sexual abuse crisis and in terms of dealing with that. there is no doubt about that. that's not true globally. that does have to be addressed. the other issueses as well. it is part of it. i think there is one tinge one cardinal said. it is interesting that the media has one idea what's going on in there. then there is the real news which is going on in there. i think it's a part of it. i don't think responsibility, accountability or perhaps the top thing -- in the end they are looking for somebody today call the viccar of christ.

>> there was a newspaper report in italy that benedict xvi was watching on television. do you know whether he's following the proceedings?

>> i don't think he's watching every day. he watched the initial things yesterday. i assume from now on it will be the news like he watches every day.

>> greg burke at the vatican . great to have you as always. thank you. the next vote is expected in hours. we'll have the uh news -- white smoke, black smoke or somewhere in between.

>> let's go to 2005 the last papal conclave . on the left is black smoke . on the right -- oh, the left is today. the right is what it looked like back in 2005 when white smoke was visible.

>> glad we cleared that up.

>> it's close.

>> now you know why we had our hearts in our throats.

>> clear as mud. wow.

>> we'll suggest they will go to a thumbs up, thumbs down system after that.

>> like, no like.

>> or ringing the bells.