White smoke is released, and the Catholic Church has a new pope

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 White smoke is released, and the Catholic Church has a new popeWhite smoke is released, and the Catholic Church has a new pope

The Catholic Church has a new pope. The white smoke released from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel at 19.05 (local time, 15:05 GMT) on Wednesday (13) shows that the 115 cardinals reached a consensus name. The new pope will be announced soon, in Latin, from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. The conclave began last Tuesday (12).
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    White smoke is released, and the Catholic Church has a new pope (Getty Images)
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The name adopted by the new pope will be heard for the first time when a cardinal appears on the balcony and announce "Habemus Papam" (We have a Pope) for the crowd gathered in the square.Cardinals choose the new pope (© Reuters)

Among the front-runners for the job are the archbishop of Milan, Angelo Scola, and Brazilian Odilo Scherer, archbishop of São Paulo. Vaticanistas believe the Cardinals sought a representative who show a strong and experienced administrator, and able to inspire the faithful.The given name received at least 77 votes of the cardinals-voters, which constitutes two thirds of the total.The election of the new pope comes after the sudden and surprising resignation of Benedict XVI, 85. He stepped down last February 28, claiming to have no more strength to lead the Church, at a time when it faces several problems, the sexual abuse scandal to accusations of corruption in the Vatican Bank.The previous conclave, 2005, lasted two days and took three rounds of voting to elect Joseph Ratzinger as the new pope.ProcessThe cardinals were locked in the Sistine Chapel on the afternoon of Tuesday (12) after each swear, in Latin, with his hand on the Gospel, which will keep secret discussions on the procedures and the conclave.Then the master of papal ceremonies Guido Marini, made the announcement Extra omnes - 'All Out' - called so that all participants not to leave the precincts of the conclave.Then the Sistine Chapel was locked from the outside. From this moment, the Cardinals started to eat, sleep and vote in isolated areas of the world and the media until they have completed the task of choosing the new pope.Apparatus blocking mobile phone signals and internet were installed in the Sistine Chapel and Casa Santa Marta, where are the rooms where the Cardinals spent the night.* With information from international agencies