By Uche Onyeali
Vatican will soon announce the success of the late Pope Francis, as white smoke on Thursday puffed from the Sistine Chapel where over a 100 Catholic Cardinals converged in the conclave to elect the new pontiff.
White smoke from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney signals the emergence of a new pope.
According to the New York Times, white smoke puffed from the chimney above the chapel yesterday, signaling that the 133 cardinals sequestered inside for two days have elected a new pope to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics.
Meanwhile, as at the time of this report, the identity of the new pontiff was yet to be known but is expected to be announced shortly, according to the newspaper.
A large crowd in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City prepared for the new pope to emerge on a balcony overlooking the square.
The conclave, the first in 12 years, came at an uncertain time for the church after Pope Francis’ death in April. The new pope will confront difficult decisions about the church’s future direction, chiefly whether to continue Francis’ agenda of greater inclusion and openness to change, or forge a different path.
The cardinals reached their decision after being in conclave for a little more than 24 hours, continuing with recent papal elections that lasted two to three days. The group of 133 cardinals, the most ever to gather in a conclave, included many who were appointed by Francis and some who did not know one another. That had made reaching a quick consensus a serious challenge, given the broad group of contenders and the splits among them about the future of the church.
Despite a larger group of voting cardinals, many of whom did not know each other, the vote did not take long, as some had anticipated.
Among top contenders for the position of Pope include Jean-Marc Aveline, a Cardinal from Marseille, France; Peter Erdo, a conservative cardinal from Hungary; Cardinal Mario Grech from Malta; Pietro Parolin, second-in-command to Pope Francis; Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Vatican’s head of Middle East affairs; Robert Francis Prevost, an American Cardinal; Luis Antonio Tagle,
Liberal-leaning Cardinal from the Philippines, and Matteo Zuppi, a progressive Cardinal from Italy
As the conclave progressed, many different flags were being waved and flown in St. Peter’s Square from so many continents, with a lot of peopl hurrying through side streets to get to St. Peter’s Square.
This is the first time the world will learn the new pope’s identity when he appears on the balcony.
