(CNN) -- White smoke has rises from above the Sistine Chapel, indicating that Roman Catholic cardinals have elected a successor to Pope Benedict XVI.
Like the one in which Benedict XVI was chosen in 2005, this election didn't take long. The white smoke comes on just the conclave's second day.
We have a few steps to take before we learn who the new pope is. Here's what we've been told will happen next:
- The new pope will leave the Sistine Chapel to put on his papal robes, then re-enter the chapel for prayer with the cardinals.
- The cardinals will then line up to congratulate the new pope and promise their obedience to him.
- The pope will then go back to Pauline Chapel to pray for a few moments.
- Only then will the pope prepare to reveal himself to the public. At the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, proto-deacon Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran (assuming Tauran himself wasn't elected) will appear and announce the new pope's old name, and the name he will be known as from now on.
- The pope will then appear on the balcony.
