By Fred Ezeh
White smoke has just been sighted in the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday to show that a new pope has just emerged to continue from where the retired Benedict XVI stopped.
The smoke came at 1808 GMT after 115 cardinals held five rounds of voting over two days, and the great bells of St Peter?s basilica began ringing soon after.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims in St Peter?s Square cheered and the bells of St Peter?s Basilica rang out after the 115 cardinals meeting in a Vatican conclave signalled their momentous decision.
The 266th pope in the Catholic Church?s 2,000-year history who’s identity is still a secret was due to emerge and unveiled from the balcony of the basilica.
The pilgrims who have waited for long with their flag flying, on sighting the white smoke started chanting ?Habemus Papam!? Which in English language means, ?We Have a Pope!?.
Cardinals have been locked up behind the Vatican walls and cut off from the outside world since Tuesday, meeting in a sublime Renaissance chapel swept for recording devices and installed with scramblers to prevent any communication.
This historic election came after Benedict?s abrupt resignation last month citing deteriorating health.
The Vatican has said the cardinal nominated to be the next pope will retire to a ?Room of Tears? next to the Sistine Chapel to don his papal vestments and then pray in the Pauline Chapel before speaking on St Peter?s Square.
Brazil?s Odilo Scherer, Canada?s Marc Ouellet and Italy?s Angelo Scola, all conservatives similar to Benedict in outlook but different in style were the three favourites but papal elections are notoriously difficult to predict.
Other possible candidates include Peter Turkson from Ghana, Luis Antonio Tagle from the Philippines and Timothy Dolan from the United States.
The odds have been stacked against cardinals from Africa and Asia ? two-thirds of the voter cardinals were from North America and Europe.
All the ?Princes of the Church? were appointed by Benedict or his predecessor and ideological soulmate John Paul II.
But the names of cardinals from Latin America, where the largest number of the world?s Catholics actually live, have also been in the rumour mill.
