The Catholic Church has just elected its 267th pope, marking a monumental moment as the white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel\u2019s chimney \u2014 the iconic signal that the cardinals have reached a two-thirds majority decision. The identity of the new pontiff is still under wraps, but very soon, he will appear on the balcony of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica to greet the waiting pilgrims and faithful gathered below.<\/p>\n
The atmosphere in St. Peter\u2019s Square was electric, with cheers and the ringing of the basilica\u2019s bells celebrating the historic announcement. Inside, 133 cardinal electors, who have been in seclusion since Wednesday, finalized the choice through a process steeped in centuries of tradition dating back to 1274.<\/p>\n
The conclave began with the first ballot on Thursday morning around 10:30 AM local time, but no decision was reached initially \u2014 black smoke signaled that no pope had been chosen. The second ballot also failed to produce a pope, which is quite common historically. For context, Pope Benedict XVI was elected after four ballots, Pope Francis after five, and Pope John Paul II took eight rounds before his election.<\/p>\n
This election concludes two days of intense deliberation and comes just 17 days after the passing of Pope Francis.<\/p>\n
Among the early public reactions, former U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the press at the White House, jokingly noting, \u201cI saw the smoke, but I haven\u2019t seen the pope,\u201d capturing the anticipation building around the Vatican.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n
Soon, the newly elected pope will choose his papal name and don the traditional papal vestments. After a private moment to collect himself, the senior cardinal deacon, Dominique Mamberti, will step forward to declare the famous Latin phrase, \u201cHabemus papam\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 meaning, \u201cWe have a Pope.\u201d This will signal the official introduction of the new spiritual leader to the world, followed by his first public blessing and address from the balcony of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica.<\/p>\n The world now waits in eager anticipation for the appearance of the Church\u2019s new shepherd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Catholic Church has just elected its 267th pope, marking a monumental moment as the white smoke rose from the\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":73625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[1264],"class_list":["post-73624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-news","tag-pope-francis"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}