A Manitoba woman is in Rome, ready to release pink smoke over Vatican City.

Therese Koturbash, who is with the Catholic Network of Women's Equality, said the smoke is intended to send a message to the Catholic church about the need for the ordination of women.

“The Vatican will say 'we really don't know what the reason is for the exclusion of women but we know it's what Jesus wanted, so we're just following his lead.' It's kind of a blame-Jesus argument,” she said.

Koturbash made the trip from Dauphin, Man., to Rome on the weekend.

Beginning Tuesday, the conclave to elect a new pope will begin. Cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel will cast ballots for a new pope, who must win a two-thirds majority plus one.

After each vote the ballots are burned, sending up puffs of smoke to tell the world if a pope has been elected (white smoke) or not (black).

Koturbash said there's no reason why a woman can't be Pope one day — though she doesn't expect it in her lifetime.

"I'm prepared to live with that, but I want to be the strongest link in the chain that I can be so that somewhere down the road, someone is going to see a woman pope elected in a system that's not held prisoner to medieval times," she said.