Cardinals prepared for a second day of conclave behind the Vatican's walls to elect a pope on Wednesday, with all eyes on a chimney that will signal when there is a new leader for the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.
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The 115 cardinals held a first inconclusive vote in the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday as they began the process of finding a successor to Benedict XVI, who brought a troubled eight-year papacy to an abrupt end by resigning last month.
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Black smoke billowed into the night air above the Vatican, indicating that no-one had gained the two- thirds majority needed to become the 266th Roman pope.
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White smoke — produced by mixing the smoke from burning ballots with special flares — would indicate that a new head of the Roman Catholic Church has been chosen.
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As they awaited the outcome of the first vote, suspense mixed with hopes among the tens of thousands of pilgrims in St Peter's Square — and in the Catholic Church worldwide, which is struggling in many parts with scandals, indifference and conflict.
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Among the cardinals Italy's Angelo Scola, Brazil's Odilo Scherer and Canada's Marc Ouellet — all conservatives like Benedict — are the three favourites but there is no clear frontrunner and conclaves are notoriously difficult to predict.