VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Catholic church has chosen a new pope.

White smoke is billowing from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, meaning 115 cardinals in a papal conclave have elected a new leader for the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

The new pope is expected to appear on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica within an hour, after a church official announces "Habemus Papum" - "We have a pope" - and gives the name of the new pontiff in Latin.

The conclave was called after Pope Benedict XVI resigned last month, throwing the church into turmoil and exposing deep divisions among cardinals tasked with finding a manager to clean up a corrupt Vatican bureaucracy as well as a pastor who can revive Catholicism in a time of growing secularism.


WJON will have live coverage of the announcement of the new pope on AM 1240 WJON.

<object width="630" height="395" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="src" value="http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf" /><param name="scale" value="noscale" /><param name="salign" value="lt" /><param name="background" value="#333333" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="flashvars" value="si=254&amp;&amp;contentValue=50071425&amp;shareUrl=http://www.cbsnews.com/2718-202_162-2116/live-vatican-smoke-cam/?tag=faceboo k" /><embed width="630" height="395" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf" scale="noscale" salign="lt" background="#333333" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="si=254&amp;&amp;contentValue=50071425&amp;shareUrl=http://www.cbsnews.com/2718-202_162-2116/live-vatican-smoke-cam/?tag=facebook" /></object></p>

More From AM 1240 WJON