No result in first papal ballot: black smoke

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2005

VATICAN CITY (AFP) — Black smoke from the roof of the Sistine Chapel signalled that cardinals failed to elect a new pope in the first ballot of their secret conclave.

Some 20,000 people watching from Saint Peter's Square initially broke into ecstatic applause, thinking the election had been successful because the first puffs of smoke appeared white, before the narrow chimney atop the chapel began billowing black fumes.

"It's white, it's white!" many shouted at first, as an aerial view of the crowd sparkled with the flashes of hundreds of cameras capturing the historic sight of the first round in an election to find the next leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.

"It seemed white, so we all ran forward toward St Peter's hoping to see the new pope," said...