Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio Elected New Pop
The next pope who will lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics was elected Wednesday by cardinals in what was apparently their 5th round of voting on the second day of their conclave.
Crowds gathered in St.
Peter's Square -- as well as millions of people watching on television
around the world - were fixed upon the balcony where they will see the
new pope for the first time.
The result of the vote
was heralded by white smoke rising from the chimney on the Sistine
Chapel. Bells also rang just after 7 p.m. (2 p.m. ET), confirming that
the 115 cardinals had elected the man who will succeed Pope Benedict
XVI, who resigned unexpectedly last month.
Before the new pope appears in public for the first time, a number of things are happening behind the scenes.
According to the Vatican,
the Cardinal Dean, Giovanni Battista Rem will ask the new pontiff: "Do
you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff?"
Once he accepts, he will be asked what name he will be called by, and he will say it.
It is only after that that the ballots are burned.
As people cheered the
announcement that a winner had emerged from the conclave, the new pope
was putting on his papal robes for the first time. Afterward, inside the
Sistine Chapel, a Gospel passage is read, as well as a prayer, and the
cardinals, one by one, congratulate him and promise their obedience.
Finally, the Cardinal
Proto-deacon, Jean-Louis Tauran, will step onto the balcony of St.
Peter's Basilica and announce the new pope, shortly before the pope
himself will appear.
Seventy-seven votes were
required to confirm a new pontiff to step into the shoes left empty by
the historic resignation of Benedict XVI at the end of last month.
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