Just after noon ET (around 6pm local time in Vatican City), white smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel chimney as bells rang, which symbolizes that a new pope had been officially selected. Previous votes, which resulted in black smoke coming from the chapel, meant that a vote was inconclusive and did not reach a decision.

As cardinals gather at the Sistine Chapel to vote for a successor to Pope Francis, there is no single frontrunner, and it remains unclear whether the new pope will align with Francis’s more inclusive ideology.