Goa, May 8 -- The white smoke rising from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel is the signal that tells the faithful and the world that a new Bishop of Rome, the successor of Peter, has been elected.

But what happens beneath Michelangelo's frescoes in the lead-up to those moments? And what occurs before the name of the new Pope is proclaimed from the Loggia of Blessings by the French Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti?

According to the rules laid out in theOrdo Rituum Conclavisand the Apostolic ConstitutionUniversi Dominici Gregis, one of the Cardinals present in the Sistine Chapel has received the required majority, and the election has taken place canonically.

The senior Cardinal by order and age (or, if he is the one elected, the ...