Maryam Moshiri
Chief Presenter, BBC News

Day two of the conclave has brought more crowds to St Peter's Basilica this morning.

They are hoping to see some white smoke today - which would mean a new pope has been elected.

A helicopter flies low overhead and the big screens in the Piazza are continuously showing the famous chimney, often flanked by a seagull or two.

The mood is one of excitement and anticipation.

Image source, reuters

One of the many reasons for the media fixating on the Sistine Chapel chimney is we have no way of knowing what is going on inside until smoke emerges.

Yesterday's proceedings were filmed ahead of the start of the conclave, but from today onwards the process is entirely behind closed doors - and all we have to go on is watching a rooftop.

We do have the broad strokes timings for their day. So we can say that the next vote is expected to take place at around 12:00 local time (11:00 BST).

We also know the cardinals will break for lunch and are expected to be back in the Sistine Chapel at around 16:00 local time (15:00 BST) and that two more ballots will take place at around 17:30 (16:30 BST) and 19:00 (18:00 BST), should they be necessary.

After these votes, the process will be called to a halt for the day for evening prayers, if no new pope has been elected. These are also just approximate timings as we also don't know if any part of it is running late.

It doesn't seem like a decision has yet been reached, as the chimney remains smokeless.

It could be that the 09:30 vote is running late, but if not, our next chance to see if a conclusion has been reached will be at 11:00 BST (12:00 local time).

Image source, EBU

As a reminder, you can see the chimney for yourself by pressing watch live above.

Image source, EPA

We're about to get our first chance today to see if the cardinals have chosen a new pope.

There will only be smoke rising from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel if it is white - which means a successor has been elected. If the electing cardinals have not chosen a pope yet, there won't be any smoke.

Hit watch live at the top of the page to stream a feed of the chapel roof.

Jonathan Head
BBC South East Asia Correspondent

Image source, BBC/Natalie Thomas

"Not even in my wildest imagination did I think this would happen," said Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, describing the day he found out that he had been appointed a cardinal.

He was speaking to the BBC at his cathedral in Caloocan, on the outskirts of the Philippine capital Manila. He was leaving the next day for Rome to join the conclave, one of three cardinals from the country who will take part in choosing the next pope.

"Normally you would expect archbishops to become cardinals, but I am only a humble bishop of a little diocese where the majority of the people are slum dwellers, urban poor, you know.

"But I thought just maybe, for Pope Francis, it mattered that we had more cardinals who are really grounded there."

Cardinal David has only been in the job for five months, after his surprise elevation last December. But in some ways he personifies the late pontiff's legacy in his country.

Pope Francis had set himself the goal of bringing a Catholic Church he believed had lost its common touch, back closer to the people.

Read more from our interview with Cardinal David.

As we've been reporting, the second day of the conclave is now under way, with electing cardinals expected to take another vote around 10:30 local time (09:30 BST).

Pope Francis, who appointed most of the cardinals voting, created a more global conclave to find his successor than the one that appointed him a decade ago.

There are 133 voting cardinals in this conclave and while cardinals from Europe make up the biggest group of those with a vote (Italy alone has 17), the numbers are down compared to the conclave that selected Pope Francis.

Asia has seen the biggest rise, more than doubling its number of voting cardinals, from 10 to 23.

The secretive ritual known as the conclave has now entered its second day.

For electing cardinals, all conversations with outsiders are forbidden during this period.

Historically, conclaves have sometimes lasted weeks and months, with the longest one lasting three years (but that was a few centuries ago).

The last few conclaves have tended to last just a few days though, with the world's 1.4 billion Catholics watching the Sistine Chapel's chimney in high anticipation.

Read more about how the cardinals come to their decision.

Charity boss Christine Allen was one of the reportedly 45,000 people packed into St Peter's Square last night.

She tells BBC Radio 5 Live it was "really exciting" as crowds watched the chimney.

Allen, who is CEO of charity Cafod - the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development - says the next pope will inherit "a world in turmoil".

"Conflict, violence, poverty, climate change, issues around debt and the economy.

"They’re all issues we’re concerned about as a development and humanitarian organisation, so it’s really important this pope will continue to speak out - as they traditionally have done - about the social issues of our day and playing their role on the global stage," Allen says.

It looks like it's going to be another sunny say in Rome, and people have already been queuing up in the early morning sun to get into the main square outside St Peter's Basilica.

Here are some of the pictures we're getting from the Vatican:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Tens of thousands of people gathered in St Peter's Square last night in the hopes of seeing white smoke emerge from the chimney. They were made up mostly of pilgrims, tourists and curious Romans. But, though the smoke released was black, not white, the mood didn't darken, too.

"I don't mind that it's black smoke, it shows the Holy Spirit is at work. There will be other votes soon enough, we will get our pope," 37-year-old James Kleineck, from Texas, told AFP news agency.

Barbara Mason, 50, travelled from Canada for the conclave, hoping to see a pope who would continue in Pope Francis's footsteps.

"I'm glad they've taken so much time because that means they're thinking carefully about who the pope will be," she said, suggesting that Francis's popular, bicycle-riding special envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, would be a worthy choice.

Image source, EPA

Yang Tian
Live reporter, Sydney

Image source, Reuters

Most of the cardinals voting in the conclave are in their 60s and 70s, but the youngest is just 45.

Mykola Bychok is a Ukrainian-born bishop based in Melbourne and Australia’s highest-ranked Catholic official after Pope Francis made him a cardinal in October last year.

He is also the first Australian to be made cardinal since George Pell, who died in 2023.

Bychok was born in the city of Ternopil in western Ukraine and moved to Australia in 2020 after Pope Francis made him a bishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of Melbourne.

Before the conclave began, Bychok called for prayers for him and the cardinals "so that the Holy Spirit may guide us in a special way in the election of the next pontiff".

It looks like a beautiful morning in Rome where, according to the planned timings, the cardinals are currently having breakfast before Mass and another day of votes.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Speaking a short while ago on BBC radio, papal historian Rebecca Rist says she would expect the church to have made its decision by Saturday.

"I think the church at the moment realises that they need to bring people together, that they don’t want the church to look split," says Rist, professor of medieval history at the University of Reading.

"So I suspect we’ll have the decision by Saturday."

While we wait for pictures from Rome this morning, here are some photos the Vatican have released of cardinals praying in the Sistine Chapel yesterday.

Image source, Reuters/Vatican Media

Image source, Reuters/Vatican Media

Cardinals will have breakfast at around 06:30 (05:30 BST) ahead of Mass shortly afterwards.

Then votes are scheduled for throughout the day - two in the morning, two in the late afternoon.

The first ballot will be at 10:30 (09:30 BST), followed by another at 12:00 (11:00 BST).

The cardinals will have lunch, followed by two more votes at approximately 17:30 (16:30 BST) and 19:00 (18:00 BST).

There isn't always smoke for each of the four votes, though. On the first votes in the morning and afternoon, there's only white smoke if a new pope is chosen. Otherwise, there is just two lots of smoke - at the end of the morning, and end of the evening session.

Image source, Reuters/Vatican Media

The cardinals involved in the secretive conclave at the Vatican will return to the Sistine Chapel later on Thursday morning, to vote again on who should be the next pope.

On the first day of the conclave, black smoke wafted from the chimney, meaning the cardinals locked inside had failed to reach a decision.

We'll be here with you throughout the day, with our correspondents poised in Vatican City.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

After a lengthy wait, black smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel's chimney this evening, meaning that the cardinals have not been able to choose a new pontiff.

Crowds were gathered in their tens of thousands in St Peter's Square for the first vote of conclave - the results of which took more than three hours to announce.

Because of the secrecy of the process, experts have pointed out that we might never know what caused the delay, and we definitely won't until after the conclave concludes.

But the lack of a new pope means that cardinals will return tomorrow to a closed-door Sistine Chapel for more rounds of voting.

We'll be back with more live coverage tomorrow.

Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Vatican City

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

St Peter’s Square - where 45,000 people gathered this evening, according to the Vatican - emptied out in minutes after black smoke billowed from the chimney, with many flocking straight to the restaurants in the surrounding streets for a late dinner after a long wait.

The cardinal electors will also be heading back to Casa Santa Marta to eat and debrief on the first afternoon of the conclave - and to prepare to vote again in the morning, and again until two-thirds of them reach a consensus on who should be the next leader of the Catholic Church.

We'll also be back here alongside thousands of faithful, pilgrims, clergy and tourists, watching the chimney - and waiting.

After tonight's delay to proceedings, with black smoke only billowing out of the Sistine Chapel chimney more than three hours after cardinals were locked inside, an expert has predicted the conclave may take a "little longer" than usual.

Speaking to BBC News, Mathew Schmalz, a professor in Catholic studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, says he is "kind of nervous that there seems to be some ripples in the process".

He adds that the conclave would need to "smooth out" whatever issues there were, but adds we might never "find out what went on".

"I'm thinking simply because of the diversity of the college of cardinals, that the conclave could be a little longer," Schmalz says, although he adds that he expected this to only be "a day longer" than what we've experienced in recent conclaves.

"These are cardinals who still are getting to know one another so unless they're going to go for a clear candidate who's already well known, deliberations make take some time," says Schmalz.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

The first vote is over, with no new pope announced today.

Tomorrow morning, cardinals will have breakfast from around 06:30 (05:30 BST) ahead of Mass, before more votes scheduled for later in the day.

During the conclave, the cardinals live in the Casa Santa Marta, a five-storey guesthouse with 106 suites, 22 single rooms and a state apartment.

The conclave - the assembly of cardinals for the election of the pope - happens at the Sistine Chapel. Cardinals are forbidden from speaking to outsiders during this period.

While their seclusion could last for an indefinite period, it's worth noting that both Pope Francis and his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, were elected after two days.