Latest Cardinals vote in Vatican for second day to elect new pope

     Vatican City, May 8 (AP) Black smoke again billowed out of the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, the second day of the conclave, indicating that no new pontiff has been chosen after the second or third ballots. There are still two more votes possible later in the day.
     The 133 cardinals had resumed voting in the morning, after spending the night sequestered at the Vatican residences. On Wednesday evening, black smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney indicating no pope was elected on the first ballot of the conclave.
     The cardinals have been sworn to secrecy in the centuries-old ritual to elect a new leader of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church. To become pope, a cardinal needs a two-thirds majority, or 89 votes. This conclave is the most geographically diverse conclave in the faith's 2,000-year history.
     Here is the latest:
    
     These are the US cardinals voting for the next pope
     The United States is home to 10 of the 133 cardinals eligible to vote for the next pope. That's more than any other nation except Italy, home to 17 of the electors in the conclave choosing a successor to Pope Francis.
     Only four of the American electors actively serve as archbishops in the US - Timothy Dolan of New York, Blase Cupich of Chicago, Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, and Robert McElroy of Washington. Two others are retired archbishops, and four have spent many years serving at the Vatican.
     It's a mixed group, ideologically. McElroy was one of Francis' staunchest progressive allies. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a traditionalist, was a frequent critic of Francis.
    
     Conservative cardinals are likely seeking a more orthodox successor to Francis
     Francis had many traditionalist critics who made clear they believed themselves to be more Catholic than the pope.
     Francis sought to neutralise the conservative opposition through key appointments and targeted removals, but they had their say. When he approved blessings for same-sex couples, African bishops united in disapproval. And when he allowed divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion, some accused him of heresy.
    
     The faithful in the piazza don't get a vote. But if they did ...
     Pedro Deget, 22, a finance student from Argentina, is hoping for a new pope in Francis' image. “Francis did well in opening the church to the outside world, but on other fronts maybe he didn't do enough. We'll see if the next one will be able to do more.”
     The Rev. Jan Dominik Bogataj, a Slovene Franciscan friar, was more critical of Francis. He said if he were in the Sistine Chapel, he'd be voting for Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem who is on many papal contender lists.
     “He has clear ideas, not much ideology. He's a direct, intelligent, and respectful man,” Bogataj said from the square. “Most of all, he's agile.”

     A hot mic moment feeds conjecture over papal candidates
     As the Sistine Chapel's doors slammed shut to seal the cardinals off from the outside world, leadership of the proceedings was assumed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the 70-year-old secretary of state under Francis and a leading contender to succeed him as pope.
     Parolin is the most senior cardinal under age 80 eligible to participate, and seemed to have received blessings from none other than Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the 91-year-old dean of the College of Cardinals, who was caught on a hot mic during Wednesday's pre-conclave Mass telling Parolin “Auguri doppio” or “double best wishes.”
     Italians are debating whether this was a customary gesture, an informal endorsement or even a premature congratulations.
    
    
     Prominent cardinal hopes for white smoke by the evening
     Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, expressed hope that a new pope would be elected within hours, according to reports in major Italian newspapers.
     “I hope that when I return to Rome this evening, I'll find the white smoke already rising,” he said, speaking from the city of Pompei on Thursday.
     Re is 91 years old, which makes him too old to participate in the conclave of 133 cardinals who are electing the next pope and who all have to be under 80.
     However, he has been prominent and delivered a Mass on Wednesday before the cardinals began their conclave. As the Mass ended he was caught on a hot mic saying to Cardinal Pietro Parolin, viewed as a favorite for the papacy: “auguri doppi” (“double best wishes”).
     Italians discussed whether this was a customary gesture acknowledging Parolin's role as the most senior cardinal present in the conclave, or if it might have been an informal endorsement of Parolin's candidacy for the papacy.
    
     GRS
GRS

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)