Black Smoke Signals No Pope Yet as Cardinals End First Day of Conclave

The world continues to wait for the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church after black smoke rose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel this evening, signaling that the first vote of the papal conclave did not result in the election of a new Pope.

The cardinals have now retired for the evening and will resume deliberations tomorrow, with two rounds of voting scheduled in the morning and two in the afternoon. If a decision is reached in any of those rounds, white smoke will rise from the chapel’s chimney, and the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica will ring out in celebration, heralding the joyful announcement: Habemus Papam — “We have a Pope.”