Catholic cardinalsfrom around the world have sequestered themselves within the Sistine Chapel to electPope Francis’ssuccessor.
Follow the Star’s live coverage on the second day of the papal conclave.
Watch live as cardinals choose the new pope. Candidates need a two-thirds majority, or 89 votes.
The Associated Press
Hoping for white smoke by this evening
Cardinale Giovanni Battista Re leads a mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff, prior to the start of the conclave, at St Peter’s Basilica in The Vatican, on May 7, 2025.
DIMITAR DILKOFF / Getty ImagesCardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, says he hopes that a new pope would be elected by this evening.
“I hope that when I return to Rome this evening, I’ll find the white smoke already rising,” Re said in the city of Pompei, according to Italian newspapers.
Re is 91 years old, which makes him too old to participate in the conclave of 133 cardinals who are electing the next pope and who all have to be younger than 80.
Black smoke again pours from Sistine Chapel chimney
Black smoke billows from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel during the conclave to elect a successor of late Pope Francis, at the Vatican, Thursday, May 8, 2025.
Antonio Calanni / The Associated PressBlack smoke is again pouring out of the Sistine Chapel chimney, indicating no pope was elected on second or third ballots of the conclave.
The smoke appeared just before noon after morning voting sessions to elect a successor to Pope Francis.
The cardinals will now return to the Vatican residences where they are being sequestered for lunch. After that, they will go back to the Sistine Chapel for the afternoon voting session.
Two more votes are possible today.
When should we be on the lookout for smoke?
Seagulls stand near the chimney of the Sistine chapel on the second day of the conclave, in The Vatican, on May 8, 2025.
Tiziana Fabi / Getty ImagesIt’s a question that many people (including us) are asking.
The Vatican press office has shared a couple time windows for when smoke could rise from the chimney:
- 10:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. EST) (only if the smoke is white)
- 12 p.m. local time (7 a.m. EST)
- 5:30 p.m. local time (11 a.m. EST) (only if the smoke is white)
- 7 p.m. local time (1 p.m. EST)
That said, smoke did not rise from the chimney yesterday until hours after the expected time, so it’s possible the votes could take longer than expected.
A reason the papal voting may have taken longer yesterday
People wait on St Peter’s Square on the second day of the conclave, in the Vatican on May 8, 2025.
JEFF PACHOUD/AFP via Getty ImagesCasting and counting ballots for a new pope may have taken so long yesterday because of the large number of cardinals voting – 133 – and their linguistic diversity.
They hail from 70 countries, and not all speak or understand Italian fluently, which could have slowed down the proceedings if help with translation was needed.
While in the past Latin was the universal language of the church, nowadays not all cardinals understand Latin or even Italian, which is the lingua franca of the Vatican.
All eyes on a chimney
The Vatican television cameras have resumed their fixed shot on the Sistine Chapel chimney, in case smoke comes out after the second ballot of the conclave today.
Seagulls perched on the roof nearby as the crowds in the piazza below waited in suspense.
Entire school groups joined the mix, blending in with people participating in preplanned Holy Year pilgrimages.
More unknowns from the first day
Crowds in St. Peter's Square witnessed black smoke pouring out of the Sistine Chapel chimney on Wednesday night, signaling that the cardinals at the conclave had not been able to elect a new pope.
We have no way of knowing how long it took Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa to deliver the traditional meditation after the Sistine Chapel doors closed and the voting began.
Cantalamessa is the retired preacher of the papal household.
Also, the vote might have had to be done twice, if for some reason the first ballot had to be invalidated.
That happened in 2013, when during one voting round, an extra empty ballot appeared.
Day 1: Black smoke rises from Sistine Chapel after first vote
People wait in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican to catch a glimpse of the smoke billowing from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel where 133 cardinals are gathering on the first day of the conclave that will elect the successor of late Pope Francis, Wednesday, May 7, 2025.
Markus Schreiber/APThe smoke billowed out at 9 p.m. Wednesday, some four hours after 133 cardinals solemnly entered the Sistine Chapel, took their oaths of secrecy and formally opened the centuries-old ritual to elect a successor to Pope Francis to lead the 1.4 billion-member church.
With no one securing the necessary two-thirds majority, or 89 votes, the cardinals will retire for the night to the Vatican residences where they are being sequestered.
How long could it take to pick a new pope? Here's what we know
Black smoke billows from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel during the conclave to elect a new pope, at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 7, 2025.
Andrew Medichini/APBlack smoke wafted from the chimney of the Sistine ChapelWednesday afternoon, signalling that the cardinals sequestered within have not yet chosenPope Francis’s successor.
Thus concludes the first day of the conclave, a secretive, centuries-old selection process that can take years to resolve— although modern conclaves have taken no more than a week to elect the next pontiff.
Here’s everything you need to know about the ceremony, as well as what you can expect going forward.
