KUALA LUMPUR – Thick black smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel at 9pm Wednesday in Rome (3am Thursday Malaysian time), signalling that the first round of voting in the papal conclave had ended without the election of a new pope.
In videos by official news outlets and spectators who posted on social media, tens of thousands of faithful, some waiting for over three hours in St Peter’s Square, can be seen watching in silence before they started applauding as the smoke emerged – a visual message that the 133 cardinal-electors have not yet reached consensus on who should succeed Pope Francis, who died on April 21 after a 12-year papacy.
Vatican News reported that around 45,000 gathered to join the crowd.
The proceedings began earlier in the day with the cardinals filing into the Sistine Chapel in a ritual-laden procession, having to surrender their mobile phones and cut off all external communications.
The airwaves around Vatican City were jammed, and the chapel was swept for surveillance to ensure total secrecy.
Reporting from Vatican City, Al Jazeera said the outcome was widely expected as there has not been a pope who was elected on the first day of the conclave “in living memory”. The initial vote often serves as a gauge of where the cardinals stand before more serious negotiations begin.
Cardinals from about 70 nations are taking part in the vote, many appointed by Francis, including Cardinal Francis Sebastian from Malaysia. The Pope’s expansion of the College of Cardinals to 133 electors – surpassing the traditional 120 – has added unpredictability to the outcome.
Many of the cardinals, meeting again only recently, have acknowledged they are still getting to know one another, according to the outlet.
The electors will reconvene later today for more rounds of voting, which continue daily – two in the morning, two in the afternoon (Vatican time) – until one cardinal receives a two-thirds majority, or 89 votes.
In an opinion piece published on Scoop, journalist Joseph Masilamany said he was asked whether a Malaysian could emerge as pope.
“Technically, yes,” Masilamany wrote, explaining that canon law allows any unmarried Catholic male to be elected pope, even if not a cardinal. Still, tradition strongly favours the choice of someone from within the conclave.
Once sealed inside the Sistine Chapel, cardinals surrender all communication devices and take a vow of secrecy. Ballots are burned after each vote: black smoke means no pope, white signals a successful election. If no decision is reached after three days, proceedings pause for prayer before continuing.
Most modern conclaves conclude within days – Pope Francis was elected after five ballots in 2013, Benedict XVI after four in 2005 – but Masilamany recalled that the longest conclave in history lasted 1,006 days.
In 13th-century Viterbo, townspeople, frustrated by the delay, locked in the cardinals, cut off their food, and removed the chapel’s roof – giving rise to the term conclave, from the Latin cum clave, or “with a key”.
As voting resumes, the world – including Malaysia – awaits updates and watches the thin chimney of the Chapel, waiting for the white smoke and the name of the next leader of the Catholic Church. – May 8, 2025.
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