Black smoke rises from Sistine Chapel chimney signaling no new pope yet

Black smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel chimney Wednesday after the first round of voting by the College of Cardinals, indicating no consensus on a new pope.The 133 voting cardinals have been sequestered inside the historic chapel since Wednesday evening, tasked with casting secret ballots to choose a successor to Pope Francis, who died April 21 of a stroke and heart failure.If no cardinal receives two-thirds of the vote, the ballots are burned with a chemical additive that produces black smoke, which signals to the outside world that the next pope has not yet been chosen.Eighty-nine cardinals must agree before a new pope can be named.When the cardinals reach a consensus, the ballots are burned with a different chemical agent that turns the smoke white.After the white smoke wafts through the chimney, the newly elected pontiff will don the traditional white papal vestments for the first time before making his debut from the balcony of St.

Peter’s Basilica.The new pontiff’s papal name will also be announced.The papal conclave typically goes through several rounds of votes before a frontrunner emerges.However, in recent history the voting process has come to a conclusion fairly quickly.The last 10 conclaves took an average of 3.2 days, and the late Pope Francis was elected after just two days in 2013....