Cardinals began the papal conclave at the Vatican's Sistine Chapel to select a new pope after the death of Pope Francis. What does black smoke mean?

In a tradition that scholars date to the 19th century, smoke released from a chimney will be colored white if the cardinals have made a decision, or black if they remain deadlocked.

As cardinals gather at the Sistine Chapel to begin voting 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.