Thick black smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, on Thursday, May 8, in a sign that cardinals once again failed to elect a new head of the Catholic Church after the second and third ballots. The 133 cardinals voting for a successor to the late Pope Francis as head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics were shut in for the secretive conclave on Wednesday evening. Sequestered away from the world, they communicate their progress by burning their ballot papers and sending up smoke through the chimney. Black smoke means no one has secured the minimum two-thirds majority – 89 votes – and white smoke signals the election of the 267th pope.
The first black smoke on Wednesday evening arrived some three hours and 15 minutes after the cardinals closed their doors. They were scheduled to hold two more ballots on Thursday morning, another two on Thursday afternoon and then four more on Friday, unless a pope is elected sooner.
In 2005, Pope Benedict XVI was elected in four ballots and Pope Francis in five ballots, in 2013. But experts have warned that the 2025 conclave – the largest and the most international ever, assembling cardinals from around 70 countries – could take longer. Around 80% of the cardinals voting were appointed by Francis.
There is no clear frontrunner to succeed Francis, with the cardinals representing a range of progressive and conservative traditions within the Church. While some cardinals are looking to a new pope to protect and develop Francis' legacy, others want a more conservative defender of doctrine, so more than a dozen potential names are circulating.