Habemus Papam Franciscum*

I’ve been monitoring the conclave since Tuesday. I was not glued on the TV since I can’t afford to lose sleep so I monitored via CNN mobile app and Twitter. When I woke up yesterday, CNN said that it was a black smoke (that is, no Pope yet). For the first day of conclave, the cardinals will only vote once. And then I checked the local time in Vatican, I think it was 2am there so I knew I can spend the whole day not checking if the chimney will release black or white smoke. And then in the afternoon before I went to mass, I saw some tweets saying there will definitely be a smoke around 6pm (this is the first voting for the 2^nd day of conclave).  For the second day of the conclave, the cardinals will vote twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon. So yes, I attended mass and then had to do the groceries before going home. When we got home, CNN wasn’t doing their live coverage in Vatican, it was the nightly news with Kristie Liu-Stout. And then I slept. But again the first thing I did when I woke up was check Twitter on any news on the Pope. White smoke! This was around 6:30am earlier, and CNN’s tweet was around 5:30am. So I had to turn on the TV just to watch the replay. I knew CNN will show the announcement of the new Pope over and over again in their different shows in the morning. And I was right. Nakakakilabot when they announced, “Habemus Papam” and then the people cheered.

 

Franch Cardinal announcing "Habemus Papam" - "We have a Pope"

 

And then Pope Francis went out of the balcony. The first time I saw him on TV, I had tears in my eyes. I think he gave off the same aura as Pope John Paul II, very likeable, gave off a warm welcome. Before he gave the faithful his blessing, he asked the faithful to bless him first. Such a humble man.

 

 

 

*This was the first tweet from the new Pope's Twitter account @pontifex - We have Pope Francis!

Photos from CNN.com