If a pope hasn't been chosen, the ballots will be burned along with a chemical that makes the smoke black. If the smoke is white, however, the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics have a new head ...

Once two-thirds of the cardinals agree on a choice, the final ballots are burned alone, and the white smoke that emerges lets everyone know that a new pope has been chosen. A free daily email with ...

If so, the new pope chooses his papal name, and the ballots are burned with chemicals which produce white smoke. Roughly 30 to 60 minutes later, the new pope is announced from the balcony of St ...

Soon after the chimney of the Sistine Chapel sent up a puff of white smoke signifying that the cardinals had selected a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, Francis addressed thousands of faithful from ...