White smoke billows from Sistine Chapel, signalling new pope elected

White smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, signalling that cardinals locked inside have elected a new leader for the world‍‍`s 1.4 billion Catholics.

Thousands of pilgrims and curious onlookers in St Peter‍‍`s Square cheered and applauded as the smoke appeared and bells began to ring, indicating the 2,000-year-old institution has its 267th pope.

All eyes now turn to the balcony of St Peter‍‍`s Basilica to see who has been elected to succeed Pope Francis, an Argentine reformer who died last month after 12 years as leader of the worldwide Church.

The new pontiff will be introduced in Latin with his chosen papal name and address the world for the first time.

He faces a momentous task: as well as asserting his moral voice on a conflict-torn global stage, he faces burning Church issues from the continued fallout from the sexual abuse scandal to the Vatican‍‍`s troubled balance sheets.

Some 133 "Princes of the Church" from five continents, the largest conclave ever, began voting on Wednesday afternoon.

Sworn to secrecy, on pain of excommunication, their only means of communicating their progress to the outside world was by sending up smoke through the chimney of the Sistine Chapel.

On Wednesday evening and then again on Thursday lunchtime, the smoke was black, emitting disappointed sighs from the tens of thousands watching.

But on Thursday afternoon, just after 6pm (1600 GMT) , the smoke emitted was white, confirming that the Catholic Church has a new spiritual leader.

By tradition, he now enters the Room of Tears, where freshly elected popes give free rein to their emotions, to don a papal cassock for the first time, before returning to the Sistine Chapel so the cardinals can pledge their obedience.

He will then appear on the balcony along with a senior cardinal, who will announce to the waiting crowds, "Habemus Papem" ("We have a pope").

The pope will then give a short speech and impart his first "Urbi et Orbi" ("To the City and the World") blessing.

Cardinals prepared to cast fresh votes Thursday for the next head of the Catholic Church, after sending up a second round of black smoke to signal they had again failed to elect a pope.

The 133 cardinals began their secretive conclave in the 15th-century Sistine Chapel on Wednesday afternoon, seeking a successor to Pope Francis as head of the world‍‍`s 1.4 billion Catholics.

Since then, they have twice sent up black smoke, the latest at Thursday lunchtime, to let the world know that no one had yet secured the two-thirds majority required to be elected pontiff.

The centuries-old ritual is held entirely behind closed doors, but the red-robed cardinals were scheduled to have two votes on Thursday afternoon after lunch at the Santa Marta guesthouse, where they are staying.

Sworn to secrecy, their only method of communication is by burning their ballot papers to send up smoke through the chapel chimney, coloured black if they have no decision, white for a new pope.