After nine suspense‑soaked days, white smoke curled above St. Peter’s, 133 scarlet‑cloaked cardinals filed out of a sealed chapel, and history ticked forward: Robert Francis Prevost—an Augustinian friar from Chicago—became the first American pope.
With that single act of papal sudoku solved, the Vatican Museums have permission to unbolt their doors and let 15th‑century pigments meet 21st‑century phone cameras once again.
So, what should art lovers expect when the Sistine Chapel reopens in the wake of a conclave that literally pressed pause on 6.8 million annual visits?
