Conclave live: Catholic cardinals gather for second day to elect new pope

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If you want to see the latest scenes from the Vatican, there is now a live stream showing St Peter’s Square and the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel pinned at the top of this page.

What to expect today?

What makes today slightly more tricky to follow is that while we have four rounds of voting, we may not get smoke after every one of them.

As I said earlier, there will be up four rounds of voting today, expected roughly around 9.30am and midday local time, and then after a long lunch break, again at 5.30pm and 7pm local time.

A view shows the chimney on the Sistine Chapel roof, on the second day of the conclave to elect the new pope at the Vatican, as seen from Rome, Italy. Photograph: Amanda Perobelli/Reuters

But according to the Italian media, what we see will depend on the results of the votes inside the Sistine Chapel.

If the cardinals do elect a new pope, we should know straight away, with white smoke.

But if they don’t, we will only see black smoke at the end of each voting session – morning or afternoon – and not after every vote.

This means we will have to spend even more time looking closely at the chimney to get an idea of what is happening inside.

Morning opening: Is today the day?

After a good night sleep in the Santa Marta guesthouse in the Vatican and a morning mass, 133 cardinals electors will soon be back in the Sistine Chapel for another rounds of voting on who should be the next pope.

The morning sun shines on the St. Peter's Basilica with the Sistine Chapel at background right, where the cardinals elect a new pope during the conclave at the Vatican. Photograph: Markus Schreiber/AP

The electors met earlier to celebrate mass and pray in the Pauline Chapel, and are due to move to the Sistine Chapel for prayers and votes.

There will be up four rounds of voting today, expected roughly around 9.30am and midday local time, and then after a long lunch break, again at 5.30pm and 7pm local time.

If you look at recent history, three of the last five popes were elected on the second day, so it’s fair to say we could see white smoke today. The majority required is 89 votes.

But then again this conclave is like no other, with the largest and most diverse electorate of 133 cardinals from 70 countries, many of whom never met before the events of the last few weeks.

We will bring you all the latest.

It’s Thursday, 8 May 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.

Good morning.