Vatican City | Black smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday evening (Thursday AEST), signalling an inconclusive first vote by cardinals locked in the building in a conclave to elect a new pope to guide the Roman Catholic Church.
Thousands of faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square waiting for smoke to pour from a narrow flue on the roof of the chapel at the end of a day rich in ritual and pageantry, with prelates praying for divine guidance in their secret ballot.
