THICK black smoke emerged on Wednesday, May 7, from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel as a sign that Cardinals had failed to elect a new head of the Catholic Church in their first Conclave vote.
Tens of thousands of people had gathered in St. Peter’s Square awaiting the smoke, which came three hours and 15 minutes after the 133 Cardinals were closed in.
The Prelates will now withdraw to the Santa Marta Guesthouse, where they are staying for the exercise before starting another round of voting on Thursday.
The Cardinals were recalled to Rome following the death of Pope Francis on April 21 after 12 years as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
Under a centuries-old ritual, those aged under 80 vote in secrecy in the Sistine Chapel until one of them secures a two-thirds majority (89 votes) to be elected pope.
Locked away to avoid distraction, their only means of communicating the outcome is by burning their ballots with chemicals to produce smoke, which comes out black if there is no decision, and white when a new pope is elected.
This Conclave is usually the largest and the most international ever assemblage of Cardinals from over 70 countries, many of whom did not know one another previously.
There is no clear frontrunner to succeed the charismatic Argentine Francis, with the Cardinals representing a range of progressive, conservative and even liberal traditions within the church.
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