Thousands of faithful congregated in St. Peter’s Square, eagerly awaiting the smoke that would pour from a narrow flue atop the chapel at the end of a day filled with ritual and pageantry.
The prelates prayed for divine guidance before casting their secret ballots.
The crowd had to be patient as it took longer than expected for the smoke to appear—more than three hours after the start of the conclave. This was an hour longer than it took to see smoke after the first vote in the 2013 conclave that elected the late Pope Francis.
While white smoke will emerge when a pope is chosen, it was not anticipated on Wednesday, as historically, a pontiff has not been elected on the first day of a conclave in modern times.
However, some cardinals expressed hope earlier this week that they could conclude the election by Thursday or Friday to demonstrate the Church’s ability to remain unified after the often divisive 12-year papacy of Francis, who passed away last month.
The 133 cardinal electors, all under the age of 80, will spend the night sequestered in one of two Vatican guesthouses, where they can continue their discussions in a more informal setting before returning to the chapel on Thursday morning.
Following Wednesday’s single round of voting, the “princes of the Church” will hold two voting sessions in the morning and two in the afternoon, continuing in the coming days until one candidate secures a majority of at least two-thirds—89 cardinals in this instance.
Their only means of communication with the outside world will be the smoke from the chimney, as they burn their completed ballot papers mixed with special chemicals: black smoke indicates no result from a voting session, while white smoke signifies the election of a new pope.
Modern papal conclaves are typically brief; the 2013 conclave lasted just two days, as did the one in 2005 that resulted in the election of his predecessor, Benedict XVI.
