The Roman Catholic church has a new leader after four rounds of voting.
The papal conclave was officially over at around 6 p.m. local time Thursday after white smoke was seen rising from the Sistine Chapel chimney.
The first round of voting took place on Wednesday, following a mass led by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, who called for unity within the Church and asked for God’s guidance in choosing a new pope “at this difficult and complex turning point in history.”
Just before 11 a.m. ET, the red-robed cardinals made a solemn procession into the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, where they took an oath of secrecy and formally began the secretive and traditional voting process.
The election of the 267th supreme pontiff came after four votes since Wednesday.
Pope Francis and his predecessor, Benedict XVI, were also elected on the second day of their respective conclaves — Francis after five ballots in 2013, and Benedict after four rounds in 2005.
The election comes at a delicate time for Roman Catholics, as the church continues to grapple with financial difficulties, its handling of past sex abuse scandals, divisions over doctrinal issues such as the ordaining or women and LGBTQ inclusivity, as well as a “continued reduction in numbers of seminarians.”
It also comes after 12 years of the charismatic Pope Francis, an 88-year-old Argentine who made headlines for his humility, fierce criticism of anti-migrant policies and a more inclusive view towards LGBTQ+ Catholics.
He was a “towering moral voice of our time and a steadfast advocate for peace, justice, compassion, and human dignity,” H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, chairperson of the African Union Commission, said following his death on April 21.
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