A new pope is chosen: photo - EPA/CIRO FUSCO
Over an hour after the smoke appeared at 19.10 CET, Wednesday evening, Cardinal Protodeacon Jean-Louis Pierre Tauran told a packed crowd on a rainy St Peter's Square, “Habemus papam – we have a pope” and that Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires would become Pope Francis, the first Jesuit, and non-European, to hold the position.
“Buona sera," Pope Francis I greeted the crowd and asked for prayers for Pope Benedict. “And before I pray for you, you have to pray for me,” he said, to cheers from the packed crowd in St Peter's Sq: photo - EPA/MICHAEL KAPPELER
If the unexpected decision - the 76 year-old Argentinian was not noted among the top favourites - was taken on just the fifth ballot, then only three of the nine previous conclaves since 1900 have ended sooner.
Polish Pope John Paul II did not obtain the necessary two-thirds majority from the cardinals until the eighth ballot.
News of who will be the next pontiff was eagerly anticipated in Roman Catholic Poland and the historic Sigismund Bell in the tower of Wawel Cathedral in Krakow rang out on the news that a new Pope had been chosen.
Polish pilgrims wait in the rain in St Peter's Sq for news of a new pope: photo - PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Many thought that this would not be a long conclave.
“My boss Cardinal Grocholewski [one of the four Polish cardinals] has only taken a small suitcase,” Father Piotr Bajor, from the Congregation for Catholic Education told the RMF FM radio station.
“We will have a new pope tonight or tomorrow morning,” he predicted.
Front-runners were thought to be the Italian Angelo Scola, Brazilian Odilo Scherer, Canadian Marc Ouellet and Ghanaian Peter Turkson.
That all the top candidates were traditionalists, theologically and socially, is no surprise, Pope Benedictm XVI, now pope emeritus, and John Paul II, both conservatives, chose 67 and 49 of the new cardinals respectively, ensuring an in-built conservative electorate at the Conclave.
Sixty cardinals, including four Poles, are European with 21 being Italian. There are also 19 Latin Americans, 14 North Americans, 11 Africans, 10 Asians and there is one cardinal from Oceania.
Józef Kloch, a spokesman for the Polish Bishops' Conference, told Polish Radio 3 this morning that, “Europe no longer plays a leading role when it comes to the Church, so it would be interesting if it was a pope from, for the first time in history, somewhere like South America”.
The votes are taken in strict secrecy and silence – the literal meaning of a 'conclave' is “locked with a key”.
Former NBA player Dennis Rodman (C) poses for media showing his T-shirt reading 'Money Back if He's Back' on Saint Peter's Square on the second day of the conclave in Vatican City, 13 March: photo - EPA/ANGELO CARCONI
Jamming devices in the Sistine Chapel blocked all electronic communication and anyone tweeting or using social media would risk being excommunicated.
John Paul II changed the rules of the Conclave so a Pope could be elected by simple majority but this was overturned by his successor who changed the rules back so that a new Pontiff requires a two-thirds majority among the cardinals.
As crowds waited in the rain in St Peter's square waiting for the first smoke to emerge from the chimney on Tuesday night, feminist activists from the Ukrainian Femen group - known for their topless protests - set off flares of pink smoke in the square to highlight what their website calls "the bloody violent history of Christianity" and the group's "determination to combat sexism of religion". (pg)