New pope elected, Vatican rejoices

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2005

VATICAN CITY (AFP) — The Roman Catholic Church elected its first new pope of the third millennium as bells pealed and thick white smoke billowed out of a Vatican chimney, with his identity to be announced within minutes.

Tens of thousands of people on Saint Peter's Square roared and applauded as white smoke -- the traditional sign that a pope has been elected -- emerged from a thin copper chimney atop the Sistine Chapel just before 6:00 pm (1600 GMT).

After initially hesitating when the plumes first appeared grey, the crowd surged toward the balcony of St Peter's basilica already hung with curtains in readiness for the new pope's first public appearance.

As the bells pealed, many in the ecstatic crowd chanted "habemus papam" (we have a pope).

But...