Thick black smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney on Thursday, signaling that the cardinals had once again failed to elect a new pope. In St. Peter’s Square, thousands of Catholics and curious onlookers responded with a mix of applause and disappointment following the second and third rounds of voting. The 133 cardinals tasked with choosing a successor to Pope Francis entered the secretive conclave on Wednesday evening. Cut off from the outside world, they signal voting results by burning their ballots—black smoke means no decision; white smoke means a pope has been chosen. The first plume of black smoke appeared Wednesday evening, about three hours after the conclave began, prompting sighs from the crowd. Undeterred, many returned Thursday morning as the red-robed cardinals cast two more ballots. They were expected to vote twice more in the afternoon and up to four times on Friday unless a new pope is chosen before then. “I don’t want them to rush — they should take the time to make the right choice,” said Barbara Mason, 50, who came from Canada for the historic moment. She hoped the new pontiff would follow in the progressive footsteps of Pope Francis, especially in championing the environment and the rights of migrants. Francis, the influential Argentine reformer who led the Catholic Church for 12 years, died on April 21 at age 88.