Black smoke has emerged from the Sistine Chapel after Cardinals held the first vote to select a new pope on the first day of the conclave, signaling that deliberations will continue.
The black smoke was visible just after 9 p.m. local time in Rome, indicating that no one received the two-thirds majority vote needed to be elected.
Cardinals entered the conclave early on Wednesday and are housed in a residence in the Vatican, cut off from receiving information outside of the isolated period. All cardinals under the age of 80 can vote in the secret ballot. This conclave is the largest in the history of the church, with 133 cardinals voting.
Cardinals will reconvene on Thursday and they can cast up to four ballots in a day. After each vote, the ballots are burned and smoke is released. If white smoke emerges, a pope has been elected.
The late Pope Francis died on April 21 at the age of 88 at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta after a long series of health complications.
He was elected pope in 2013 after five ballots over two days of the conclave.
Dozens of cardinals are considered contenders for the head of the Catholic Church and while the pope must be any baptized man, the contenders are typically only among that group.
Francis appointed 108 of the cardinals voting in the conclave. Included among them are 10 American cardinals, including Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington and Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who criticized President Trump earlier this week for sharing an AI imagine of him as the pope.
Cardinal Robert Prevost is also participating and is considered a contender for pope, although an American pope has long been considered a long shot given that the cardinals typically consider leaders from non-superpower nations.
