After a long wait among the expectant crowds gathered in St Peter's Square – so much so that rumours had started to build – black smoke finally emerged from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel at approximately 9 p.m. local time in Rome.
The signal of black smoke – fumata nera – served to show that the 133 cardinal-electors had failed to elect a new pope in the first ballot of the conclave.
Black smoke billowing from the chimney indicates that no decision has been reached and that the required two-thirds majority hasn't been achieved to find a successor to Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday, 21 April, at the age of 88 years old.
