White smoke billowed from the temporary chimney atop Sistine Chapel chimney on Thursday evening, signalling that the 133 Roman Catholic cardinals gathered inside the Vatican had reached a two-thirds majority to elect a new pope for the Catholic Church.
The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers, priests made the sign of the cross and nuns wept as the crowd shouted “Viva il papa!” after the white smoke wafted into the late afternoon sky at 6:07 p.m. Waving flags from around the world, tens of thousands of people waited to learn who had won.
The smoke signal means the winner secured at least 89 votes of the 133 cardinals participating in the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis.
The name will be announced later, when a top cardinal utters the words “Habemus Papam!” — Latin for “We have a pope!” — from the loggia of the basilica. The cardinal then reads the winner’s birth name in Latin and reveals the name he has chosen to be called.
The new pope is then expected to make his first public appearance and impart a blessing from the same loggia.
The new leader of the Catholic Church was chosen amid the third round of conclave voting.
Some 133 “Princes of the Church” from five continents — the largest conclave ever — began voting on Wednesday afternoon.
Sworn to secrecy, on pain of excommunication, their only means of communicating their progress to the outside world was by sending up smoke through the chimney of the Sistine Chapel
On Wednesday evening and then again on Thursday lunchtime, the smoke was black, emitting disappointed sighs from the tens of thousands watching.
But on Thursday afternoon just after 6pm (1600 GMT) the smoke emitted was white, confirming that the Catholic Church has a new spiritual leader.
By tradition, he now enters the Room of Tears — where freshly-elected popes give free rein to their emotions — to don a papal cassock for the first time, before returning to the Sistine Chapel so the cardinals can pledge their obedience.
He will then appear on the balcony along with a senior cardinal, who will announce to the waiting crowds “Habemus Papem” (“We have a pope”).
The pope will then give a short speech and impart his first “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and the World”) blessing.
