Black smoke on the first day of from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City where the conclave to elect the new pope meant that Cardinals conclave met again on Wednesday.
First black smoke signaling an inconclusive vote came out at 7:42 p.m. local time (18:42 GMT) started on Tuesday.
Now on the 2nd day of Cardinal Conclave, all eyes are on the chimney again that may signal whether there is a new leader for the world's 1.2 billion Catholics or not.
Black smoke means that no one has gained the two-thirds majority needed to become the 266th Roman pope while the White smoke means that a new Pope of the Roman Catholic Church has been chosen.
115 cardinals are eligible to vote, as they are aged below 80. They held their first voting session in the evening after entering the chapel that hosts Michelangelo's frescoed ceiling.
Cardinals hold four ballots a day and the next pontiff will have to win the votes of two thirds, or 77. Among the electors from 48 countries, 60 were European nationals, of which nearly a half from Italy.
They were sworn to secrecy and shut off from every contact with the outside world. A shortlist of names was expected to emerge from the first round of votes, after which cardinals will be more likely to choose from this selection, the Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said.
Early on Tuesday, cardinals attended the pre-conclave mass in St Peter's Basilica, praying for the next Rome bishop to be "generous-hearted."
Thousands of believers as well as more than 6,000 international journalists are waiting for white smoke drifting out of the chimney and the sound of church bells ringing to announce the new pope.
Pope emeritus Benedict XVI resigned on Feb. 28 at the age of 85, after shocking the world by announcing that he no longer had the mental and physical strengths to continue his office. He was the first pontiff in 600 years to step down.
(with inputs from ANI)
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