Tens of thousands of people gathered at St. Peters Square in Vatican City when the Cardinals voted for the first vote.
Thick black smoke emerges from the chimney of Sistine Chapel, indicating that the Cardinals sealed inside were unable to elect a new Pope in the first Conclave vote.
Tens of thousands gathered at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City to wait for smoke approximately three hours and five minutes after quarantine.
Cardinals from around 70 countries were recalled to Rome on April 21st, 12 years later as head of the Catholic Church. As it was closed from the outside world on Wednesday, mobile phones surrendered, and airwaves around the Vatican were chocked to prevent communication until a new Pope was elected.
The Cards will return to the Sistine Chapel on Thursday and vote again, continuing until one of them is elected a majority (89 votes).
The beginning of the Conclave was played live on the big screen in front of St. Peter’s Cathedral, with a stern procession of cardinals and other clergymen, with the stern procession to the Sistine Chapel.
The large crowd waited at St. Peter’s Square, looking at the chimneys and screens showing the occasional seagulls. Some remained frustrated, while others cheered as the smoke finally waved.
“It’s perfect and lovely to be here for the new Pope,” said Irish tourist Catriona Hawe, 60.
“Francis was a great, progressive, man of people, but he didn’t move things as fast as I’d like to,” she said.
“Even if the church elects conservatives, it doesn’t benefit in itself.”
Black smoke emerged from the chimney above the cysten chapel at 9:00pm Wednesday evening, indicating that the first vote was held in Conclave and ended without the election of the Pope. pic.twitter.com/akxuubdk2g
– Vatican News (@vaticannews) May 7, 2025
In a report from the Vatican city, Hoda Abdel Hamid of Al Jazeera said black smoke was expected, meaning no new Pope had been elected.
“In my living memory there was a Pope who was elected on the first day of Conclave,” she said.
“Usually, this first vote is how the Cardinals understand how things are going and what direction their fellow electors are thinking,” Abdel Hamid said before returning to the guesthouse they are staying for the election.
Francis nominated 108 out of the 133 “Prince’s Churches” and selected many pastors from countries including Mongolia, Sweden and Tonga.
His decision to exceed the usual limits of 120 electors has injected an extra degree of uncertainty into the suspenseful process.
Many Cardinals hadn’t met until last week, and needed more time to get to know each other, raising questions about how long it would take one man to secure the votes they needed to become the 267th Pope.
Both Francis and his predecessor, Benedict XVI, were elected within two days, but the longest papal election lasted 1,006 days from 1268 to 1271.
The Challenge Faces by the Church
As the Cardinals represent the extent of progressive and conservative traditions within the Church, there is no clear frontrunner to replace Francis. More than a dozen names circulate, from Piazabattista Pizzabara in Italy to Peter Eldo in Hungary and Malcolm Landis in Sri Lanka.
However, there are many challenges facing facilities that are 2,000 years old. The decline in priesthood, the role of women, the Vatican’s problematic balance sheet, adapting the church to the modern world, continuing fallout from the clergy child abuse scandal, and the increasingly vacant pews in the West.
The new Pope must also face acts of diplomatic balancing at a point of geopolitical uncertainty, and deep divisions within the church.
