- Safiu Kehinde
The quest for new Pope continues as black smoke emerges from the chimney above the Sinstine Chapel in Vatican City, indicating that the vacuum left by late Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis, still remains vacant.
NPO Reported the demise of Pope Francis who passed away on Easter Monday.
Following his burial on Saturday 26th of April, the search for a new Pontiff began on Wednesday as 133 Cardinals converged in conclave to elect a new leader of the Catholic church.
The exercise which often take seven days would see the Cardinals engaged in several rounds of voting with an eventually winner declared through the emergence of a white smoke from Sinstine Chapel’s chimney.
However, the emergence of black smoke on Thursday morning signalled no pope was elected in the first three votes.
The wait for the white smoke have attracted hundreds Catholic faithfuls across the world as they gathered in St Peter’s Square again this afternoon to see if a new pope will be chosen today.
According to BBC, a new pope requires a two-thirds majority – which translates to 89 votes this conclave – and that can take time. The average length of time for the last few conclaves was three days – and seven ballots.
If no new pope is elected today, there will be up to four more ballots tomorrow.
Each cardinal casts his vote on a simple card that says, in Latin: “I elect as Supreme Pontiff” to which they add the name of their chosen candidate.
They walk in line, in order of seniority, and place their cards inside the large silver and gilded urn.