White smoke emerges and cheers erupt at the Vatican as a new pope is elected

It is expected for the new pope to address the crowds later today.

The white smoke rising from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel is the signal that tells the faithful and the world that a new Bishop of Rome, the successor of Peter, has been elected.

But what happens beneath Michelangelo’s frescoes in the lead-up to those moments? And what occurs before the name of the new Pope is proclaimed from the Loggia of Blessings by the French Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti?

The Rite of Acceptance

According to the rules laid out in the Ordo Rituum Conclavis and the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, one of the Cardinals present in the Sistine Chapel has received the required majority, and the election has taken place canonically.

The senior Cardinal by order and age (or, if he is the one elected, the next in line) asks, in Latin and on behalf of the entire College of Electors, for the elected Cardinal’s consent with the words: “Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff?” Upon receiving the consent, he then asks: “By what name do you wish to be called?”

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-05/election-new-pope-white-smoke-sistine-chapel-habemus-papam.html