An older nun reproved them. "You don't know for certain yet," she said.
As the crowd, seeing the white smoke, called out "bianco, bianco," a priest with his cellphone glued to one ear came out on one of the terraces that sits atop the majestic colonnade surrounding St. Peter's Square and gestured frantically at the bell tower.
John Paul had decreed that in addition to sending up white smoke, the Vatican should ring the bells to announce a papal selection.
When the chimes finally were heard, the ringing was overwhelmed by the roar of the crowd, relieved and excited that the election of a new pope was real. Some waved papal flags, others flags from their home countries -- Germany and Honduras, Mexico and the United States. As people waited, there were lulls in the cheers and some began to sing Italian hymns or chant prayers in Latin.
Vatican staff members -- priests, nuns and lay workers -- came out onto the roofs of the buildings surrounding St. Peter's to watch the ceremony. News photographers and TV camera operators positioned themselves amid the statues that crown the colonnade.
As the cardinals prepared to introduce the new pope, assistants unfurled a velvet banner with the seal of John Paul and hung it in front of the papal balcony. Then, the grand glass doors were opened and, in a dramatic entrance, a long, deep red curtain was pushed aside to make way for the new pope.
The 115 elector cardinals gathered on adjoining balconies, their scarlet cassocks and skullcaps contrasting sharply with the white marble. It created a vivid tableau but also a moment of sober ceremony as they watched one of their own move into the most elite post in Christendom.
After a greeting and a few words, Ratzinger spoke in Italian. "I entrust myself to your prayers." And the crowd chanted his new papal name.
With the dusk deepening and a damp wind rising, he ducked back inside the basilica.
With the new pope's departure, the crowd began to drift off. A group known as Papa Boys, an informal youth group that sprang up during John Paul's jubilee year, rallied a large circle of young Catholics to sing. They were hoping the new pope would make another appearance.
Many, however, who stood on the periphery of the swaying teenagers and 20-somethings had more questions than answers. "We'll see if he has enough charisma to face this crisis of faith that we have in the church with people drifting away," said Elena Fonte, 35, a lawyer. "I still think of John Paul II as pope; not of Ratzinger as pope."
Times staff writers Sebastian Rotella and Geraldine Baum contributed to this report.
