No new pope as black smoke also rises at midday on second day of conclave

Cardinals failed again 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.

The black smoke poured out at 11:50 a.m., signalling that the second and third ballots of the conclave had failed to find consensus on a leader for the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church.

With no one securing the necessary two-thirds majority, or 89 votes, the 133 cardinals returned to the Vatican residences where they are being sequestered.

They will have lunch and then return to the Sistine Chapel for the afternoon voting session. Two more ballots are possible Thursday.