First plume of black smoke signals end to 1st vote as cardinals consider Pope Francis's successor

Black smoke billows from Sistine Chapel chimney for a 2nd time

Hi, I'm Chris Iorfida, welcoming you to our second day of coverage of the conclave to select the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic church.

More black smoke emanated from the Sistine Chapel chimney at 11:50 a.m. local time today, signifying that no candidate has reached the required two-thirds threshold.

It is the second occurrence of black smoke, after a Wednesday afternoon vote.

Two more votes are possible on Thursday.

That's it for today's live updates

We're stopping our live updates for the day. That was a busy first day for the 133 cardinals tasked with electing a new pope.

The group started with a prayer. Then a mediation followed, urging the cardinals to consider the seriousness of their decision before they took a group oath and individual oaths of secrecy and promise to follow the prescribed rules of the process.

Their task has drawn a huge crowd, fascinated by and admiring of the proceeding’s solemnity. The Vatican estimates that a crowd of about 45,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square today to wait for an announcement on whether a new pope had been elected.

The Vatican News agency reports that today’s announcement had been expected some time after 7 p.m. local time but instead came at 9 p.m., when black smoke rose from the chimney.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow as the cardinals return to the Sistine Chapel to resume voting.

With no one securing the necessary two-thirds majority, or 89 votes, the cardinals will retire for the night to the Vatican residences where they are being sequestered, The Associated Press reports.

They return to the Sistine Chapel on Thursday morning.

‘A collective experience’

Applause, exclamations and prayers could be heard in the crowd as black smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel after the first vote.

“It’s a collective experience,” CBC’s Vatican analyst David Perlich says live from Vatican City.

“That sense of the coming together and the unknowing” is rare and supremely spiritual for a lot of people, he added.

Black smoke is billowing from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, signalling the cardinals did indeed vote but that a new pope has not been elected on the first ballot.

It comes more than four hours after the cardinals entered the Sistine Chapel.

Where do the cardinals eat and sleep?

While voting is still ongoing for the day, it is expected to wind down soon. During the conclave, the cardinals eat and sleep at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, a guesthouse inside Vatican City.

The dorms are just a few minutes' walk from the Sistine Chapel. They were built in 1996 by Pope John Paul II so that cardinals could be comfortable as they underwent the gruelling process of electing a pope.

The guesthouse, known as Casa Santa Marta, is also where Pope Francis chose to have his private apartment, instead of the more luxurious papal apartments.

It was also designed for visiting clergy members and guests of the Holy See. Once the conclave begins, the Domus Sanctae Marthae is sealed off from the outside world for the duration of voting. Cardinals can't use phones or the internet.

The cardinals eat together and the meals are simple — often Italian food, such as pasta, vegetables and meat or fish.

Dusk and no smoke, but there's still time

The sun is setting on St. Peter's Square where the crowd has reportedly grown to around 30,000 onlookers. Eyes are riveted on the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, where a first plume of smoke could still appear at any moment.

Black smoke indicates that a first ballot has been cast. It's possible, but rare, that there could be white smoke right away. That would mean that the group of cardinals has come to a strong consensus in their informal discussions

Today may be all about the cardinals, but a couple of seagulls are stealing some of the conclave spotlight as the world watches the Sistine Chapel’s chimney.

Viewers of the livestreams have taken note of a seagull sitting on the roof. The bird has been in live video shots for hours, as The Associated Press reports, along with a chick that also entered the video frame.

As I write, the bird is flying in circles around the roof. Probably trying to get a better view.

On the social media platform X, one user wrote: “Shoutout to that one seagull locked in on the conclave proceedings.”

“BREAKING NEWS: Two seagulls AND a baby seagull have taken [a] seat besides the chimney,” wrote another.

“Has there ever been a more closely watched seagull?” asked another person.

On the social media platform X, several spoof accounts already exist for “Sistine Seagull” and “Conclave Seagull” from the last conclave, when the birds behaved in a similar fashion.

Who is Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, one of the front-runners?

If there’s a front-runner with real heat going into the conclave, it’s Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines. He’s got global church cred, a magnetic personality and serious chops as a pastor.

Often called “the Asian Pope Francis,” Tagle is warm, funny, self-deprecating … and when he preaches, people actually listen. He is multilingual, media savvy, and known across the Catholic world for his high-profile roles at Caritas — the Vatican’s international charitable organization — and the Vatican’s missionary office.

What floats his balloon even higher is that Tagle comes from a Catholic superpower, with a global diaspora of Filipinos keeping parishes alive around the world. He also moves easily across cultures — part Chinese, grandson of a Buddhist, fluent in English and Vatican-speak.

Management may not be his strength — Francis ultimately removed him from Caritas in 2022 over concerns about leadership — but his charisma and deep connection with Catholics make him by far one of the most compelling contenders.

A view from inside the press room

While hundreds have gathered in St. Peter's Square, where they have a view of the Vatican chimney, mounted on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, there is another group of watchers who are key to the process: the media posted inside the Vatican press room.

The CBC's Rome correspondent Megan Williams is there and sends this image of what that room looks like.