Tradition holds that black smoke indicates the cardinals have not yet agreed on a new leader, while white smoke signals that a new pope has been elected. But what kind of smoke is it exactly?

VATICAN CITY — Thick black smoke billowed Thursday from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel in a sign that cardinals again failed to elect a new head of the Catholic Church. Among the thousands of ...

VATICAN CITY - Black smoke billowed from a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel on May 8, signalling that the cardinals locked in a conclave have not yet chosen a new pope to lead the Roman Catholic ...

(1st UPDATE) This signals that cardinals meeting in a secret conclave did not elect a new pope during their two morning ballots VATICAN CITY – Black smoke billowed from a chimney atop the ...

A plume of black smoke rose over the crowds thronging St Peter's Square late Wednesday, confirming that the conclave's first ballot had not secured a two-thirds majority to name a successor to the ...

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.

What does black smoke symbolize? According to a Vatican News' post, black smoke indicates that no new pope has been decided upon yet. This means the proceedings around choosing a new Pope will ...

Historically, the white smoke was created by burning the ballots together with dry straw. The black smoke was made from the ballots, wet straw, and with the addition of pitch to darken the color.

Black smoke rising from the Sistine Chapel chimney on Wednesday and again Thursday morning indicated that a new pope had not yet been chosen to replace Pope Francis. Using smoke to communicate to ...

VATICAN CITY — Black smoke streamed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on Thursday morning in Rome, signaling that the 133 cardinal electors have not come to a two-thirds agreement about who ...

The first two votes of the day failed to find a winner, sending billowing black smoke through the chapel chimney. Cardinals are meeting in a secret, sacred conclave for a second day as they seek ...