White smoke at Sistine Chapel signals new pope elected

White smoke has been seen billowing from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, signalling a successor to Pope Francis has been elected.

A joyous crowd cheered and applauded in St Peter's Square as the first puffs of smoke emerged from the Vatican shortly after 6pm local time. The bells of St Peter's Basilica rang out to confirm a decision had been reached.

The conclave of cardinals has been gathered since Wednesday to choose the new leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics in a centuries-old ritual.

The white smoke signalled a result on the first full day of balloting, after two bursts of black smoke on Wednesday and earlier on Thursday showed voting was still going on.

The identity of the next pontiff, and his papal name, is due to be announced shortly.

White smoke at Sistine Chapel signals new pope elected - in pictures

Conclave

Following tradition, the cardinals burnt their ballot papers to ensure the secrecy of their votes. Chemicals – potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin – were added to provide the white smoke which acts as a signal to the crowds gathered outside in St Peter's Square that they have agreed who among them will be the 267th pontiff.

The 133 cardinals entered the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday afternoon, sealing themselves away from the outside world until they came to a two-thirds majority decision.

Bright red cassocks, Swiss Guards standing at attention, ancient Latin chants and oaths preceding the slamming shut of the doors were part of he heavily ritualised procedure to the conclave, a word which comes from the Latin term meaning a room that can be locked with a key.

At a mass shortly before being sequestered, the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prayed that the cardinals making up the most geographically diverse conclave in the faith’s 2,000-year history could agree “on the pope that our time needs”, saying it requires a “leader who can awaken consciences”.

Pope Francis, who died aged 88 last month after a 12-year papacy. Getty Images

Pope Francis, who died last month aged 88, named 108 of the 133 “princes of the church” including younger ones from the “global south”, which injected an unusual degree of uncertainty in the process. This conclave was the largest – and the most international – in history, with representatives from 70 countries across five continents.

For much of the past century, it has taken between three and 14 ballots to find a pope. John Paul I – the pope who reigned for 33 days in 1978 – was elected on the fourth ballot. His successor, John Paul II, needed eight. Pope Francis was elected on the fifth in 2013.

The voting process

Voting for a new pope follows a strict choreography that is dictated by church law.

Each cardinal writes his choice on a piece of paper inscribed with the words “Eligo in summen pontificem” – “I elect as Supreme Pontiff.” They approach the altar one by one and say: “I call as my witness, Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who, before God, I think should be elected.”

The folded ballot is placed on a round plate and tipped into a silver and gold urn. Once cast, the ballots are opened one by one by three different “scrutineers”, cardinals selected at random who write down the names and read them aloud.

The scrutineers, whose work is checked by other cardinals called revisors, then add up the results of each round of balloting and write it down on a separate sheet of paper, which is preserved in the papal archives.

As the scrutineer reads out each name, he pierces each ballot with a needle through the word “Eligo." All the ballots are then bound together with thread, and the bundle is put aside and burnt in the chapel stove along with a chemical to produce the smoke.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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