Cardinals attend a Mass for the election of a new pope celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Sodano inside St. Peter’s Basilica today.  (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

HERE ARE ALL the things we learned, loved and shared today.

THINGS WE LEARNED

#NO POPE The question on everyone’s lips is still: ‘Who will be the next pope?’ Following the first black smoke from the Sistine Chapel signalling that cardinals have failed to elect a pope on their first try.

#NICOLA FURLONG Nicola Furlong’s mother and sister made emotional victim impact statements today, telling a Tokyo court how their lives have changed since she was killed in May last year. Her mother, Angela, said they carry a “cloak of darkness” with them at all times. Reports say that two of the jurors and one judge cried during the statements.

#PENALTY POINT Deputy Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan wants his penalty points back. He told the Dáil that he is to appeal for fines and points due to him for driving while using a mobile phone on two occasions. Deputy Flanagan says a Garda Sergeant wiped his points but he did not name the Sergeant in the Dáil.

#JILL MEAGHER Tom Meagher, the husband of murdered Irish woman Jill Meagher, is reported to have stormed out of a Melbourne courtroom today following Adrian Ernest Bayley’s not guilty plea.  The man accused off the murder and rape of the Irish woman last October pleaded not guilty to her murder but guilty to one charge of rape.

#IRISH FERRIES Passengers on an Irish Ferries ship have found themselves stranded at sea after bad weather conditions made it too difficult to dock. Although the ship, which left Rosslare on Sunday evening, has since docked at Cherbourg ferry port, passengers are still waiting for the go-ahead to disembark.

A cirque performer from Le Noir performs at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Le Noir has a crew of twenty from around the world like Russia, Australia, Lithuania, Canada, Bulgaria who specialize in different acrobatic acts, some of which were formerly from the production Cirque du Soleil. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

THINGS WE LOVED

• What a difference a day made, 24 little hours… We loved these two amazing pictures on Reddit taken of St. Stephens Green’s entrance just a day apart. It’s like parallel universes.
• LIFE gives us a glimpse into what life was like for America’s migrant workers harvesting crops in 1959. Photographer Michael Rougier took nearly 3,000 pictures, capturing workers and their families struggling through harvest season, but none of the images were ever published. Until now.

(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

• This pensive nun in Rome really caught our attention today, here’s more photographs of the first day of the Vatican conclave.

THINGS WE SHARED

• Now you can choose your own Pope thanks to The Guardian’s ‘Pontifficator’. Explore their views on issues from contraception to relations with other faiths, peruse their CVs and choose the man you think is best qualified for the job.
• If  you were shopping in Lidl in Rathfarnham, Dublin 16, recently and lost an engagement ring, then you might just be in luck.  A member of staff found the ring and it now resides in Lidl’s customer service centre in Kildare, waiting to be reunited with its owner.
• Have you ever wondered what it’s like to fall 100ft down a mountainside? Well wonder no more because here it is. In the first person. On TheDailyEdge. Ouch.

(MaryHDennis3/YouTube)