Latest news and live updates as the election process for the next pope continues. The cardinals met for their first conclave vote last night.

As cardinals gather at the Sistine Chapel to vote for a successor to Pope Francis, there is no single frontrunner, and it remains unclear whether the new pope will align with Francis’s more inclusive ideology.

Black smoke rising from the Sistine Chapel chimney on Wednesday and again Thursday morning indicated that a new pope had not been chosen to replace Pope Francis on the first ballot.Using smoke to communicate to the public whether a new pope has been elected is somewhat a recent tradition for the Catholic Church.