Cardinals Fail to Elect Pope After 2nd Ballot

Cardinals failed again on Thursday morning to find a successor to Pope Francis, sending black smoke billowing up through the Sistine Chapel chimney after two more inconclusive rounds of conclave voting.

- Associated Press

VATICAN CITY:

With no candidate securing the necessary two-thirds majority, or 89 votes, the world will need to wait longer for a new leader of the Catholic Church. The 133 cardinals took a lunch break before returning to the Sistine Chapel for Thursday's afternoon voting session, where two more ballots were possible.

Despite the disappointment, hopes were still high that a pope would be chosen quickly, perhaps as early as Thursday afternoon's fourth or fifth ballot.

"I hope by this evening, returning to Rome, I'll find white smoke," said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the 91-year-old dean of the College of Cardinals who presided over the Mass before the conclave.

Re is not participating in the balloting because only cardinals under 80 are eligible to cast votes.

Re, who was quoted by Italian media as speaking on Thursday in Pompeii, said he was certain the 133 cardinals would elect "the pope that the church and world need today."