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"If it is true that the followers of other religions can receive divine grace, it is also certain that objectively speaking they are in a gravely deficient situation in comparison with those who, in the church, have the fullness of the means of salvation," the document said. It called non-Catholic Christian bodies "defective."

The cardinal-electors intended the traditional white smoke from burning ballots to signal Ratzinger's election. But when the first of three puffs of smoke issued from a copper chimney atop the Sistine Chapel at 5:50 p.m. it appeared to be light gray, and the crowd in St. Peter's Square was uncertain what it meant.

Fifteen minutes later the great bell of St. Peter's Basilica began tolling and all the church bells in Rome chimed in, leaving no doubt that a pope had been elected.

Under Vatican procedure, there was a pause of about 50 minutes before the name of the new cardinal was announced. This was to allow time for him to formally accept his election and have it certified, choose his papal name, change into one of the three sets of vestments prepared in advance to fit a small, medium or large pope, and receive "an act of homage and obedience" from the cardinals.

Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez of Chile, who holds the title of senior cardinal-deacon in the College of Cardinals, then appeared on the main balcony of St. Peter's Square to declare in Latin, "Annuntio vobis gaudium magnun: habemus papam!"

In translation, his words were, "I announce to you with great joy: We have a pope, the most eminent and most reverend lord, Lord Joseph Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Ratzinger." Continuing in Latin, the cardinal said the new pope had taken the name Benedict XVI.

Scores of cardinals stood crowded together at windows and balconies of the Hall of Benedictions to watch the proceedings. The cardinals opened their conclave late Monday in the Sistine Chapel with Swiss Guards stationed outside the doors. They took an oath to preserve the secrecy of everything to do with the election.

The ballots were burned in a cast iron stove that has served that purpose since the election of Pope Pius XII in 1939. Chemicals were added to the paper to color the smoke black after inconclusive rounds and wet straw to make it white.

Because of past confusion over smoke that looked more gray than black or white, the Vatican installed an electronic device intended to intensify the color and decided to ring the basilica bell as well on the election.

Desser Allen, a sixth-grade teacher from Boston, was in the crowd waiting for the smoke. "I came to see a lot of history that I've been teaching about. When I get home I can tell my students that I saw it live," she said.

Allen said that she is not Catholic but admired John Paul "because he went beyond the Catholic Church. The next pope shouldn't try to be John Paul again, but he should have moral values and be there for everyone, not just Catholics," she said.

A group of students from Christendom College in Fort Royal, Va., who are spending three months studying in Rome, stood behind a banner announcing the name of the small Catholic school and an American flag.

Joan Watson, a junior, said they camped in a street near the Vatican the night before John Paul's funeral to be sure of getting into St. Peter's Square. "I have faith that the next pope will continue the work of John Paul II and continue the teaching of the church as it has been for 2,000 years," she said.

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April (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49