Ed Ora, Avanti....

Lest anyone missed it, this is what White Smoke looks like....



Pope Francis I – and, for the record, we'll temporarily need to keep noting the number for the benefit of the wider world – will, per the Holy See, offer his first post-electoral Mass at 5pm Rome tomorrow with his electors in the Sistine Chapel. 

That said, the cardinal-electors have been released from Conclave, some of them already having taken to interviews over these late hours.

As previously foreseen, the new pontiff is expected to travel to Castel Gandolfo tomorrow to meet with Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI, giving the church and the world an image it has never seen – two living pontiffs together.

And lastly, as has been projected in Vatican circles for the better part of this last month, Francis' inaugural liturgy as universal pastor of the 1.2 billion-member flock will take place next Tuesday, 19 March – the solemnity of St Joseph, patron of the Universal Church.

A White House announcement on today's election indicated that a "happy" Vice President Joe Biden – the first Catholic to hold the nation's second-highest office – will lead the US delegation to the rites, whose final form depends on the preferences of the new Pope... some of which he's already made clear.

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