New Pope elected at Vatican

Cardinals attend the Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice Mass at St Peter's Basilica, before they enter the conclave to decide who the next pope will be. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images

CARDINALS are getting ready for a second day of deliberations on electing a new pope, as thousands fix their eyes on a chimney that will signal when there is a new leader for the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

The 115 cardinals held a first inconclusive vote in the Sistine Chapel in Rome earlier today as they began the process of finding a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, 85, who made history last month by becoming the first pope in 600 years to step down.

The black smoke, created from the burning of the ballots in a stove in the chapel and aided by some added chemicals including potassium and sulphur billowed 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.

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.

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.

Some analysts suggest that Benedict's dramatic act - the first papal resignation in over 700 years - could push the cardinals to take an equally unusual decision and that an outsider could emerge as a compromise candidate.

Thousands gather on St Peter's square waiting for the smoke announcing the result of the first vote of the conclave at the Vatican. AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE

Hopes are high in the Philippines for the popular Archbishop of Manila, Luis Antonio Tagle, and on the African continent for South Africa's Wilfrid Napier, the archbishop of Durban, but in practice their chances are very slim.

Two-thirds of the cardinals are from Europe and North America and the view among many experts is that only someone with experience of its inner workings can reform the scandal-tainted Vatican bureaucracy, the Roman Curia.

Breakfast was served for the cardinals in Domus S. Marthae at 6:30am (4:30pm AEDT). They will be transferred to the Sistine Chapel at 7:45am (5:45pm AEDT).

Today's timetable for the cardinals is:

08:15 (6:15pm AEDT) – Mass

Morning vote(s) (scrutiny(ies) taken

12:30pm (10:30pm AEDT): Cardinals return to Domus Sanctae Marthae

Cardinals have held an inconclusive vote in the Sistine Chapel as they begin the process of electing a pope.

1pm (11pm AEDT) – Lunch

4pm (2am Thursday AEDT) - Cardinals return to Sistine Chapel

4:50pm (2.50am AEDT) – Scrutinies taken

7:15pm (5.15am AEDT) – Vespers

7:30pm (5.30am) – Cardinals return to Domus Sanctae Marthae

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