Black smoke emerges from chimney as cardinals fail to agree on new pope

Signal from Sistine Chapel chimney shows deliberations will continue over new leader of the Catholic church

Black smoke billows from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel during the conclave to elect a successor of late Pope Francis, at the Vatican, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Black smoke billowed from a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, signalling that the cardinals locked in a conclave have not yet chosen a new pope to guide the Roman Catholic Church.

Thousands of faithful gathered in St Peter's Square and waited for smoke to pour from the flue on the chapel's roof, which it did shortly before 11am.

The cardinals held an initial inconclusive vote on Wednesday evening. They are scheduled to hold up to two more ballots on Thursday afternoon, with possible smoke signals expected sometime after 3.30pm Irish time.

The group of 133 cardinal electors began their behind-closed-doors meeting shortly before 5pm Irish time that day.

Up to four rounds of voting can take place each full day of conclave, two in the morning and two in the afternoon.

Smoke is only expected up to twice a day, as ballots from two successive rounds are generally burned together if no pope is chosen in either round.

Pope Francis was elected after five ballots, and white smoke on the second day of that conclave confirmed the news to the world in 2013.

Cardinals arrive inside the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican at the start of the conclave to elect the successor of late Pope Francis. File picture: Vatican Media/AP

The cardinals in this conclave are gathering to elect the 267th pope and have, as is tradition, been cut off from communications with the outside world.

At a pre-conclave mass on Wednesday they were reminded of the “choice of exceptional importance” they must make in electing the next pope.

A new pope requires a two-thirds majority in the voting.

Should the cardinals fail to reach an agreement on a candidate after three days of voting, they are entitled to a one-day break for prayer and free discussion.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is Irish-born, is considered an American cardinal, having ministered mainly in the US.

The voting cardinals, those aged under 80 who are the only ones eligible to cast a ballot, were urged to “invoke the help of the Holy Spirit” to help them elect a pope “whom the (Catholic) Church and humanity need at this difficult and complex turning point in history”.

Addressing them in St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said: “To pray, by invoking the Holy Spirit, is the only right and proper attitude to take as the cardinal electors prepare to undertake an act of the highest human and ecclesial responsibility and to make a choice of exceptional importance.

The morning sun shines on the St. Peter's Basilica with the Sistine Chapel at background right, where the cardinals elect a new pope during the conclave at the Vatican. Picture: Markus Schreiber/AP

“This is a human act for which every personal consideration must be set aside, keeping in mind and heart only the God of Jesus Christ and the good of the Church and of humanity.” 

The pontiff – believed to be someone called to be the successor to St Peter, who was the first pope – will need to be a person who can “awaken the consciences of all and the moral and spiritual energies in today’s society, characterised by great technological progress but which tends to forget God”, Cardinal Battista Re added.

This conclave is thought to be one of the most diverse of any meeting of cardinals, representing some 70 countries and hailing from places such as Mongolia, Sweden and Tonga, which had not had a cardinal before.

Pope Francis had appointed some 108 of the 133 cardinals who will choose his successor.

Dubbed the people’s pope, he was a popular pontiff whose death on Easter Monday sparked tributes from leaders across the world and whose funeral drew hundreds of thousands of mourners.

 - additional reporting from Reuters