VATICAN CITY (AP) — Cardinals from around the world will resume their voting in the morning, after failing to agree on a new pope during the first day of their conclave today.
After their first vote today, black smoke poured from the Sistine Chapel chimney. If the smoke had been white, it would have signaled that a new pope had been chosen. Thousands of people were gathered outside in the cold night rain, crowded into St. Peter's Square with their eyes on the narrow chimney on the Sistine Chapel roof.
The cardinals had been meeting for the past week behind closed doors, engaging in discussions to try to determine who among them has what it takes to be pope, and what his priorities should be. But the debate ended with questions still unanswered, and many cardinals are predicting a drawn-out election that will further expose the divisions within the church.
