VATICAN CITY — Twenty minutes had passed, maybe 30, and the white smoke had finally stopped billowing out of the smokestack atop the Sistine Chapel, the bells had stopped clanging. Outside St. Peter's Basilica, thousands of people huddled under umbrellas, ensnared in a strange limbo, waiting to learn the identity of their new pope.

Two Roman priests, the Rev. Adriano Furgoni and the Rev. Maurizio Piscola, stood together, both a bit nervous, given their rooting interest. They wanted the Austrian cardinal, Christoph Schonborn, considered a progressive. Piscola even pulled out his cellphone to show off a recent text message from the cardinal bearing a special prayer.

The rain kept coming in a steady drizzle as a thought suddenly struck Furgoni, 69.

The faithful pack St. Peter&#8217;s Square as white smoke rises from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday. Pope Francis was selected
The faithful pack St. Peter's Square as white smoke rises from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday. Pope Francis was selected on the fifth ballot of the conclave. (Tiziana Fabitiziana, AFP/Getty Images)

"It is the first time I'm going to see a pope younger than me!" he said.

For that was the promise of the moment, a promise sending a current of anticipation through the crowds pouring into St. Peter's Square from across the ancient city. The bells and the white smoke had announced that the cardinals had selected a new pope, and soon he would step onto the balcony of St. Peter's, a fresh face, expected to be a younger man, perhaps charismatic, to guide a church in disarray.

Ever since the surprise resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, Rome and the Catholic world had been waiting to know his successor, and now they were still waiting.

"Maybe he thought about it and said, 'I just don't want to do it,' " Furgoni said, joking. "What if they open the window, and he doesn't come out?"

But then the window opened, and the crowd roared. People shouted and waved national flags from Spain, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Italy and the Philippines.

"Papa! Papa! Papa!" came shouts from the square.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, a senior official known as the proto-deacon, appeared and uttered the familiar Latin phrase "Habemus Papam!" — "We have a pope!" Then the name of the new pope: Francis. And finally the name of the cardinal who was now the pope: Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, archbishop of Buenos Aires.

"Mamma mia!" a startled Furgoni shouted. "Bergoglio?"

He struggled to hide his disappointment.

"I didn't expect it, I didn't expect it," Furgoni muttered, shaking his head. "And he is also old!"

A few minutes more, and then cheers, rising, as Pope Francis stepped through the red curtains onto the balcony and looked out on the thousands who had come to greet him. For a few moments, the new pope stood in the light, barely moving.

"Brothers and sisters," he finally began, speaking in clear Italian. "Good evening."

By the time he finished speaking, the new pope had won the crowd over and demonstrated a trait that seemed to please his Roman flock.

"He spoke excellent Italian," one woman said.