Black Smoke from Sistine Chapel Signals No New Pope Elected

Vatican City: Black smoke was emitted from the Sistine Chapel chimney Wednesday, indicating that the cardinals in the papal conclave had not elected a successor to Pope Francis in their first vote.

According to Ansa News Agency, white smoke will signal that the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics have a new leader. The 133 cardinal electors are set to vote four times a day until they elect a new Roman pontiff to succeed Francis, who passed away on Easter Monday at the age of 88 after serving 12 years as the head of the Church.

The last two conclaves, which elected Francis and Benedict, lasted only two days. A two-thirds majority is required to elect a new pope. The first vote of the current conclave took much longer than expected, occurring three hours and 17 minutes after the extra omnes order, which required everyone except the cardinals to leave the chapel.