WATCH: Newly Elected Pope Makes First Appearance Before Vatican Crowd

On Tuesday afternoon, the 115 cardinals tasked with electing a new pope entered the Sistine Chapel in Rome, singing a Gregorian chant that asks the saints to help guide their voting for the successor to the recently-resigned Pope Benedict XVI. Each cardinal takes a vow of secrecy before placing their vote, written on a rectangular piece of paper. After the votes are counted, and the outcomes announced, the ballots are bound together and burned with a special chemical. A copper chimney atop the Sistine Chapel will then release puffs of smoke to inform the world that a new pope has been selected.

UPDATE: At around 2:30 p.m. ET, the chimney released white smoke, signaling that a new pope has been elected. The new pontiff is about to give blessings from the balcony of the Sistine Chapel.

Watch video below, via CNN:

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