(ANSA) – ROME, MAY 8 – The Catholic Church’s 133 cardinal electors were set to return to the Sistine Chapel on Thursday afternoon to resume voting on Pope Francis’s successor after failing to settle on a new pontiff in their second and third votes of the papal conclave earlier in the day, as indicated by black smoke puffing from the chapel’s chimney.
As expected, the first vote of the conclave on Wednesday evening was also unsuccessful.
The cardinals, who returned to the Santa Marta residence inside the Vatican where most of them are staying for lunch after the morning’s votes, will remain behind closed doors with no contact with the outside world until a new leader of the Catholic Church is chosen.
A two-thirds majority is necessary to become the 267th pontiff, meaning the magic number is 89 votes.
There are set to be up to two more votes and one more smoke signal on Thursday.
The next smoke signal will not come until around 7:00 pm unless the first vote of the afternoon is decisive, in which case the white smoke will come out at around 5:30 p.m.
Francis died on April 21, Easter Monday, at the age of 88 after 12 years at the helm of the Church.
He succumbed to a stroke after over five weeks in hospital fighting life-threatening pneumonia.
Francis had appeared to be slightly on the mend and had insisted on riding his popemobile around St Peter’s Square and mingling with crowds of faithful the day before he died, flying in the face of doctors’ advice.
Currently Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin of Italy and Filipino Luis Antonio Tagle are leading the betting to be the Argentine pontiff’s successor.
Tagle has just overtaken Parolin to become the bookmakers’ favourite.
The odds on Tagle were down to 3-1 for William Hill , while those on Parolin were 7-2.
Next were Italian cardinals Matteo Zuppi and Pierbattista Pizzaballa, both on 6-1, while the odds on Ghana’s Peter Turkson lengthened from 5-1 to 9-1.
French prelate Jean-Marc Aveline, meanwhile, made a leap forward, with the odds dropping from 33-1 six days ago to 18-1 now. (ANSA).
Read article…
As expected, the first vote of the conclave on Wednesday evening was also unsuccessful.
The cardinals, who returned to the Santa Marta residence inside the Vatican where most of them are staying for lunch after the morning’s votes, will remain behind closed doors with no contact with the outside world until a new leader of the Catholic Church is chosen.
A two-thirds majority is necessary to become the 267th pontiff, meaning the magic number is 89 votes.
There are set to be up to two more votes and one more smoke signal on Thursday.
The next smoke signal will not come until around 7:00 pm unless the first vote of the afternoon is decisive, in which case the white smoke will come out at around 5:30 p.m.
Francis died on April 21, Easter Monday, at the age of 88 after 12 years at the helm of the Church.
He succumbed to a stroke after over five weeks in hospital fighting life-threatening pneumonia.
Francis had appeared to be slightly on the mend and had insisted on riding his popemobile around St Peter’s Square and mingling with crowds of faithful the day before he died, flying in the face of doctors’ advice.
Currently Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin of Italy and Filipino Luis Antonio Tagle are leading the betting to be the Argentine pontiff’s successor.
Tagle has just overtaken Parolin to become the bookmakers’ favourite.
The odds on Tagle were down to 3-1 for William Hill , while those on Parolin were 7-2.
Next were Italian cardinals Matteo Zuppi and Pierbattista Pizzaballa, both on 6-1, while the odds on Ghana’s Peter Turkson lengthened from 5-1 to 9-1.
French prelate Jean-Marc Aveline, meanwhile, made a leap forward, with the odds dropping from 33-1 six days ago to 18-1 now. (ANSA).
Read article…
