White Smoke Muncul Dari Kapel Sistina, Habemus Papam!

White smoke billowing from the Sistina Chapel (@vaticannews)

JAKARTA - White smoke billowing from the Sistina Chapel, indicates that a whale has been selected in a conclave to lead the Catholic Church on Thursday 8 May.

That means the winner gets at least 89 votes out of 133 cardinals who participate in the conclave to choose a replacement for Pope Francis.

The crowd in St. Peter's Square cheered. The name will be announced later, when a prominent cardinal says the words "Habemus papam!" Latin for "We have a whale!" from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica.

The cardinal then read out the name of the conclave winner's birth in Latin, and revealed the name he had chosen. The new whale is then expected to appear first in public and give blessings from the same loggia.

Konklaf to search for Pope Francis' successor, who died on April 21, began on Wednesday May 7 at around 17.00 Vatican time (22.00 WIB), with electoral cardinals entering the Sistina Chapel where the vote took place.

Before voting, as many as 133 electoral cardinals took oaths together then individually, to be loyal to their duties if elected as Popes.

They also vowed to maintain confidentiality over everything related to the Pope's election process.

The konclaf for the election of the 267th Pope of the Catholic Church was led by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who served as secretary of the Vatican state.