Black smoke signals no pope elected at first conclave vote

This photograph shows black smoke rising from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel signalling that cardinals failed to elect a new pope in the first ballot of their conclave in the Vatican on May 7, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Black smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney at the Vatican on Wednesday (May 7, 2025) indicating no pope was elected on the first ballot of the conclave to choose a new leader of the Catholic Church.

The smoke billowed out at 9 p.m. local time on Wednesday (May 7, 2025), 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.

They return to the Sistine Chapel on Thursday morning (May 8, 2025).