Pope Election: Faithful Await White Smoke

Black smoke has poured out of the Sistine Chapel's chimney, indicating that cardinals have failed to elect a new Pope after their first vote.

As the smoke billowed out of the chimney, tens of thousands of onlookers in St Peter's Square cheered in excitement or booed in mock disappointment at the time-honoured tradition.

The eyes of the world will be fixed on the thin copper chimney in the coming days. Smoke signals will be sent out twice daily, with white smoke signifying that a new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics has been chosen.

The smoke from the Sistine Chapel is produced by burning the ballots in a special stove and adding artificial smoke.

Cardinals from around the world began the papal conclave inside the Vatican on Tuesday.

The Church's top 115 leaders will continue voting until they reach a two-thirds majority in favour of one candidate. This equates to one cardinal getting 77 votes.

Amid deep divisions over the problems of the Church and who is best to fix them after the shock resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican had made clear it did not expect a winner on the first ballot.

The cardinals are set to return to the Apostolic Palace for Mass this morning and a new round of voting.

The conclave takes place in deep secrecy, with the cardinals sequestered inside the Vatican walls. They are allowed to travel only from the Vatican hotel through the gardens to the Sistine Chapel and back until they have elected a Pope.

Telephones, newspapers, television and tweeting are strictly forbidden.

Benedict XVI's surprise resignation has thrown the Church into turmoil.

It also exposed deep divisions among cardinals grappling with whether they need a manager to clean up the Vatican's dysfunctional bureaucracy or a pastor who can inspire Catholics at a time of waning faith.

The leading contenders for Pope have fallen into one of the two camps, with Cardinal Angelo Scola seen as favoured by those hoping to shake up the powerful Vatican bureaucracy, and Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Scherer favoured by Vatican-based insiders who have defended the status quo.

Other names include Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who heads the Vatican's powerful office for bishops, and US Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the exuberant Archbishop of New York.

In a final appeal before the conclave began, the dean of the College of Cardinals, retired cardinal Angelo Sodano, urged unity within the Church, asking the cardinal electors to put their differences aside for the good of the Church and the future Pope.

"Each of us is therefore called to cooperate with the Successor of Peter, the visible foundation of such an ecclesial unity," he said, adding that the job of the Pope is to be merciful, charitable and "tirelessly promote justice and peace".