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(Reuters) - Cardinals in secret conclave failed twice on Wednesday morning to elect a new pope, as black smoke over the Sistine Chapel showed ballots on the first full day of voting were inconclusive.

A plume of black smoke billowed from the Vatican on Tuesday, indicating cardinals have not yet chosen a successor for Pope Benedict XVI on the first day of conclave. The cardinals now return to the Vatican's Santa Marta hotel for the night. They return to the Apostolic Palace for Mass Wednesday morning and a new round of voting. Beginning Wednesday, the cardinals will cast four ballots a day – twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon. Earlier Tuesday, the 115 cardinals tasked with electing a new pope were locked in the Sistine Chapel, marking the start of conclave....

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VATICAN CITY — Smoke poured from the Sistine Chapel (search) chimney just before noon Tuesday — first emerging as gray but then turning darker — signaling that the cardinals had failed to choose a new pope for the second time. When the 115 voting cardinals do decide on a successor to Pope John Paul II (search), who died April 2 at age 84, the chimney will spew white smoke and bells will toll shortly afterward.