Black smoke began to billow from the Sistine Chapel chimney on Thursday, signaling that the second and third votes of cardinals in the papal conclave had again ended inconclusively - a pontiff had not yet been elected.
The black smoke means that the Catholic cardinals, gathered in the famous chapel frescoed by Michelangelo, have not yet elected a pope.
Thousands of faithful and onlookers waited in St. Peter's Square on the morning of the second day of the conclave for the smoke to appear. It began to smoke at 11:50 a.m. local time (12:50 p.m. Lithuanian time) after the morning session of voting for the 133 cardinal electors.
If no one receives at least 89 votes - two-thirds - needed to become the new pope, the cardinals will return to their Vatican residences, where they are isolated from the outside world.
They will have lunch and return to the Sistine Chapel for the afternoon voting session.
Two more votes are possible on Thursday.
The conclave was called after Pope Francis died last month at the age of 88.
