After a long wait among the expectant crowds gathered in St Peter's Square – so much so that rumours had started to build – black smoke finally emerged from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel at approximately 9 p.m. local time in Rome.
The signal of black smoke – <em>fumata nera</em> – served to show that the 133 cardinal-electors had failed to elect a new pope in the first ballot of the conclave.
Black smoke billowing from the chimney indicates that no decision has been reached and that the required two-thirds majority hasn't been achieved to find a successor to Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday, 21 April, at the age of 88 years old.
Once white smoke emerges that will be the signal that the next leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics and the 267th pope has been chosen.
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<em>Photo: Black smoke rising from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel signalling that cardinals failed to elect a new pope in the first ballot of the conclave, Vatican, 7 May 2025. (Photo by TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images.)</em>
