The conclave to select the next pope has begun after Catholic cardinals from across the world filed into the Sistine Chapel Wednesday before sealing themselves inside.

Cardinals returned to the Sistine Chapel on Thursday to resume voting for a new pope after the first conclave ballot failed to find a winner, sending billowing black smoke through the chapel chimney.

On Wednesday afternoon, red-hatted clerics who carry the same weight and dignity as princes within the Catholic Church entered the Sistine Chapel for the papal conclave to choose Pope Francis‘s successor.