White smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, signalling that cardinals locked inside have elected a new leader for the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.
Thousands of pilgrims and curious onlookers in St Peter's Square cheered, applauded and wept as the smoke appeared on the second day of voting at the Vatican.
The bells of St Peter's Basilica and churches across Rome rang out, indicating the 2,000-year-old Church has its 267th pope.
All eyes now turn to the balcony of St Peter's, to see who has been elected to succeed Pope Francis, an Argentine reformer who died last month after 12 years as leader of the worldwide Church.
The new pontiff will be introduced in Latin with his chosen papal name and address the world for the first time.
"It's an amazing feeling," said an elated Joseph Brian, a 39-year-old chef from Belfast, who came with his mother to Rome for the spectacle.
"I'm not an overly religious person but, being here with all these people just blew me away," he told AFP as people around him jumped up and down in excitement.
There were euphoric scenes as one priest sat on someone's shoulders waving a Brazilian flag and another lifted a heavy crucifix into the air in jubilation.
"It's a once in a lifetime experience" said Rita Canale, a 42-year-old Roman who came to the square with her 8-year-old daughter.
Bruna Hodara, 41, from Brazil, was recording the scene with her phone. "Habemus papam, woooo!" she howled, echoing the words to be spoken on the balcony as the new pope is introduced.
The new pope faces a momentous task: as well as asserting his moral voice on a conflict-torn global stage, he faces burning Church issues from the continued fall-out from the sexual abuse scandal to the Vatican's troubled balance sheets.
Some 133 "Princes of the Church" from five continents -- the largest conclave ever -- began voting on Wednesday afternoon.
Sworn to secrecy, on pain of excommunication, their only means of communicating their progress to the outside world was by sending up smoke through the chimney of the Sistine Chapel.
On Wednesday evening and then again on Thursday lunchtime, the smoke was black, emitting disappointed sighs from the tens of thousands watching.
But on Thursday afternoon just after 1600 GMT the smoke emitted was white, confirming that the Catholic Church has a new spiritual leader.
It was not clear exactly how many ballots it took to elect the new pope, but it followed recent history in wrapping up in less than two days. In 2005, Benedict XVI was elected in four ballots and Francis in 2013 in five ballots.
While the details of the election will forever remain secret, the new pope had to secure at least two-thirds of votes to be elected.
