Moment white smoke emerges signalling election of new Roman Catholic pope

Thick white smoke billowed from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, signalling to the world that the Roman Catholic church has a new pope. The smoke was met with loud applause from the thousands of pilgrims and tourists waiting in St Peter’s Square. It means that one of the 133 cardinals inside the chapel has obtained the necessary two-thirds majority required to win the conclave, the secretive centuries-old ritual of electing a new pontiff.