Cardinals convene for 2nd day of conclave to pick next pope

Cardinals convene for 2nd day of conclave to pick next pope

Intrade may have shut down, but the election of a pope still offers a good chance to study the predictive value of betting odds. Eight years ago, when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger ascended to St. Peter's throne, the oddsmakers looked prescient: he was the

Rome (CNN) -- Black smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel Tuesday night, indicating that cardinals gathered at the Vatican to elect a new pope had not chosen one in the first ballot of their conclave. The start of the secret election

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News. The first clue about what kind of leader the next pope will be â€" liberal or conservative, reformer or by-the-book â€" will come only minutes after the smoke clears at the Sistine Chapel. From a balcony at St

Black smoke means no two-thirds majority, so no new pope. White smoke means we have a winner. Many hundreds braved the rain and cold in St. Peter's Square on Tuesday to see the almost-inevitable black smoke that signaled the end of Day One of the

The brave new world of social media torpedoed the chances of a leading papal candidate today, as a Dutch cardinal struggled to explain newly surfaced Facebook photos showing him on a 2007 Spring Break romp in Tampa.