Black smoke poured from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday (May 7) evening, confirming that cardinals had not decided in their first round of voting to choose the next pope.
The centuries-old signal meant no candidate received the required two-thirds majority.
No pope was elected after a first ballot of the papal conclave on Wednesday, as black smoke billowed out of a chimney of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
The smoke emanated from the chimney starting at around 9 p.m. local time in Rome, signaling an end to the first day of the conclave.
Around 45,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square to await the announcement, which was initially thought to come after 7 p.m. local time
The conclave is assembled to elect a new leader of the Roman Catholic Church following the death of Pope Francis at age 88 last month.
Over 133 cardinals from 70 countries entered the Sistine Chapel to be part of the conclave and swore secrecy about the deliberations.
Once a new pope is elected, white smoke will emanate from the chimney. Conclaves in the past have taken days, months or even years; the longest papal conclave lasted nearly three years from 1268 to 1271 following the death of Pope Clement IV.
The two most recent conclaves took multiple ballots for a pope to receive votes from two-thirds of the cardinals present, which is necessary to secure the position.
A few cardinals are thought of as strong contenders to become the next pontiff. They include Cardinal Luis Tagle, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Cardinal Robert Sarah and Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
Most of the cardinals voting in the conclave are in their 60s and 70s, but the youngest is just 45.
Mykola Bychok is a Ukrainian-born bishop based in Melbourne and Australia’s highest-ranked Catholic official after Pope Francis made him a cardinal in October last year.
He is also the first Australian to be made cardinal since George Pell, who died in 2023.
