Uncertainty continues over the election of the new Pope

Once again, there was black smoke in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican in Rome. 

The conclave of cardinals remains deadlocked in its efforts to appoint a successor to the late Pope Francis I.

Two meetings of the 133 cardinals summoned to elect the new Pope were scheduled for Thursday morning, and both ended in black smoke. In other words, there was not the majority needed to elect a replacement for Pope Francis I. 

A two-thirds majority of the conclave is required to appoint a new Pope, and the necessary quorum has not been reached.

There is a struggle to see whether a progressive Pope will be elected, such as Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines or Pietro Parolin of Italy, or a more conservative Pope, such as Robert Sarah of Guinea. These three are the names most often mentioned as favourites to become the next Pope. 

The conclave began on Wednesday with a mass attended by the 133 cardinals who had been summoned. They met in secret in the Sistine Chapel of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican in two sessions in the afternoon to elect the successor to the late Pope Francis I. 

In neither of the two afternoon sessions was the necessary majority achieved to elect Pope Francis' successor, leaving everything to be decided in Thursday's meetings. Two meetings had been convened in the morning, which also ended in black smoke. The fumata is the iconic image of smoke rising from the chimney of St. Peter's Basilica, which historically serves to announce whether or not there is a majority in the selection process. If the smoke is black, it means that there is no agreement, and this is known as black smoke. If the smoke coming out of the chimney is white, then there is white smoke, which means that a sufficient majority has been reached to elect the new Pope. 

After the failed cardinal meetings this morning, everything is now set for Thursday afternoon, with two more meetings in which the required two-thirds majority of the 133 cardinals convened will be sought in order to definitively appoint the new Pope, who will be the 267th in history. 

Thus, after the black smoke (no agreement in the conclave) on Wednesday and this morning, there will be a third smoke this afternoon. If a Pope is appointed in the first vote in the afternoon, the smoke would be at around 5.30 p.m.; but if there is no agreement in that first vote, there would be no smoke at that time, but rather after the second vote, at around 7 p.m., and it could be white or black. 

If the smoke is white, it means that a cardinal has obtained two-thirds of the votes, and the elected cardinal must accept the office and announce the name by which he wishes to be called. After the smoke, the protodeacon pronounces the famous words ‘Habemus Papam’ and announces in St. Peter's who has been elected, and the new Pope appears publicly, amid the usual anticipation of tens of thousands of Catholic faithful gathered in front of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. 

The election of a Pope usually takes several days because it is a complicated process, due to the various currents that exist within the Catholic Church. Although there have been some notable exceptions, such as in the case of Pope Pius XII, who was elected in 1939 in the first ballot held on the first day, the white smoke was practically instantaneous on that occasion, due to the clarity of the decision and the broad consensus that existed. 

In the case of the new Pope, the process of reaching the necessary majority is proving complicated at the moment, despite the fact that the majority of the cardinals, up to 108, had been appointed by Pope Francis I, who was characterised by a more progressive and open policy within the Catholic Church.