LIVE | The wait for a new pontiff continues after cardinals fail to choose new pope

Black smoke emanated from the roof of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican on Thursday at around noon, signalling the wait for a new pontiff will stretch on.

Hundreds of people in St. Peter’s Square raised their cell phones to the giant screens that showed the black smoke rising.

Another two rounds of voting are expected to be carried out this afternoon.

In the first voting session held on Wednesday evening, at the start of the conclave, cardinals failed to agree on a name with black smoke being emitted at around 9pm. This was expected.

Meanwhile, St Peter’s Square, yesterday hosted around 45,000 pilgrims from around the world as they waited for the smoke signal from the Sistine Chapel. The same can be expected today as Catholics wait to see who their next pope will be.

A pope is elected if the person obtains the support of two-thirds of the 133 cardinals eligible to vote. This means that the required threshold is 89 votes.

Elector-cardinals are under a strict media blackout and are shuttled between the Sistine Chapel where voting and meditation takes place, and the Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican hotel where they sleep and eat.

READ ALSO | What happens in the secret gathering that elects the pope

A globally diverse conclave

This is the most globally diverse conclave in the Catholic Church’s history, a result of Pope Francis’s decision to appoint more cardinals from Asia, Africa and the Americas. The geographic composition of the conclave means that no two continental blocks on their own can elect a pope if they vote according to geographic affinity.

The 133 cardinals come from 70 countries, up from 115 from 48 nations in the last conclave in 2013.

Although several names have been suggested as papabile, papal contenders, the geographical diversity and the deep divisions over whether the church should continue in Pope Francis’s liberal footsteps or return to a more traditionalist approach, make it harder to predict the outcome.

Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who served as Francis’s number two in the Vatican, has often been mentioned as the likely successor—a moderate diplomat close to the Francis tradition but less liberal. Nonetheless, there is no guarantee that Parolin will be the next pope.

Indeed, other names have also been thrown into the fray such as Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Amercian Robert Prevost, France’s Jean-Marc Aveline, Hungary’s Peter Erdo, and Italians Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Matteo Zuppi.

Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech, who for the past years occupied the post of secretary general of the synod, a global consultation process kick-started by Pope Francis, has also been indicated as a papabile.

St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican from where a new pope will be announced to the world (Photo: Vatican News)

There are no official candidates in this secretive election with cardinals expected to write down the name of who they believe should be pope. Technically, any baptised, unmarried man can be elected pope, however, traditionally, cardinals have always elected one of their own.

READ ALSO | Ambassador to the Holy See: ‘Mario Grech has the visibility other cardinals do not have’