White smoke emerged from the chimney of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel on Thursday, signaling that the 133 cardinals gathered in conclave have successfully elected a new pope.
They picked a successor to Pope Francis on the second day of voting, but the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics will have to wait for the official announcement from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to learn who he is.
The Roman Catholic cardinals had, in the morning voting session on May 8, held two ballots, without electing the new pope.
They began the secretive voting process, known as a conclave, on May 7.
But the tens of thousands of people who had massed at the Vatican late that evening only saw a plume of black smoke rise up from the chapel’s chimney, the signal that no one had secured a two-thirds majority in the conclave to succeed Pope Francis, who died on April 21 aged 88.
White smoke signals a successful election.
On May 8, the cardinals returned to the Sistine Chapel, resuming the voting for a successor to Francis in the largest and most geographically diverse conclave in history.
A record 133 cardinals from 70 countries were involved in the ballot, up from 115 from 48 nations in the last conclave in 2013 – growth that reflects efforts by Francis, who was pontiff for 12 years, to extend the global reach of the Church.
Both Pope Francis and his predecessor Benedict XVI were elected within two days, but the longest papal election in Church history lasted 1,006 days, from 1268 to 1271. AFP,/REUTERS
More details to follow.
