LAST UPDATE 22:14
Black smoke emerged from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, meaning that the Cardinals did not elect a new Pope.
The entire process lasted more than three hours, much longer than predicted yesterday in the Vatican’s press room itself.
This may possibly be due to the record number of cardinal electors and the fact that they come from seventy-one different countries.
The process will continue on Thursday, where according to the schedule, two votes will be held (at 10:30 and 12:00), and if no Pope is elected, two more will take place in the afternoon (at 17:30 and 19:00).
In case white smoke still doesn’t appear, the same process will continue daily.
According to analysts, the chances of electing the new Holy Father of the Roman Catholic Church will increase tomorrow, given that in 2005 Pope Benedict was elected during the fourth ballot and Pope Francis, in 2013, during the fifth.
Tonight, in St. Peter’s Square, more than 50,000 faithful gathered and waited for the result of the vote, with their gaze fixed on the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, including residents of the Eternal City and citizens from dozens of different countries.
Today, after the “invocation to the saints of the West and East,” the 133 cardinal electors entered the Sistine Chapel, where the conclave process began a short while ago.
The cardinals took a sacred oath on the Constitution of the Vatican and the Holy Gospel, asking the Holy Spirit to guide their actions. Once the traditional Latin phrase “extra omnes” (“everyone out”) was pronounced, the chapel doors were closed, marking the start of one of the most secretive processes in the world.
This conclave, conducted entirely in Latin as is customary, has the largest number of participating electors in history. It has rightly been called “the conclave of globalization”: 53 cardinals are from Europe, 37 from North and South America, 23 from Asia, 18 from Africa, and 4 from Oceania. Two cardinals were unable to travel to Rome due to health reasons.
As is tradition, it is highly unlikely that a new pontiff will be elected in the first vote. Historically, the decisive moment tends to come after the third ballot, making tomorrow afternoon a likely timeframe for the announcement of Pope Francis’s successor.
Today, the Cardinals elected the members of the scrutiny committee—a group essential to the overall procedure, responsible for overseeing and verifying the voting process.
In accordance with the conclave’s strict rules of absolute secrecy, all ballots and any notes taken by the cardinals during voting will be burned in the stove of the Sistine Chapel—part of a ritual that underscores the sacred and confidential nature of the proceedings.
Translation: Konstantinos Menyktas
