Sky News halted for 'breaking news' announcement over Pope Francis's successor

was forced to halt its live coverage to issue a breaking news announcement: a new Pope has officially been elected. We don't yet know who has been selected, but white smoke has officially been videoed billowing from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel in Italy. It comes after the first election saw black smoke last night, meaning that the cardinals had not fully agreed on who would be Pope Francis's successor. We now await the monumental reveal of the new pope's identity from the balcony of St Peter's.

The pontiff passed away on Easter Monday after suffering a stroke and heart failure at the age of 88. Sergio Alfieri, his chief surgeon, revealed he failed to respond to any stimuli from medical staff as he lay in a coma with his eyes open before his death.

He told Italian outlet Corriere Della Sera: "On Monday at about 5:30 Massimiliano Strappetti [the pope's private nurse] called me [saying]: 'The Holy Father is very ill, we must return to Gemelli [hospital]'.

"I pre-alerted everyone and 20 later I was there in Santa Marta.

"I entered his room and his eyes were open. I noticed that he had no breathing problems and then I tried to call him but he didn't answer.

"He didn't respond to stimuli, not even painful ones. At that moment I understood that there was nothing more to be done. He was in a coma. Strappetti knew that the Pope wanted to die at home, when we were at the Gemelli he always said so."

Francis' final testament, which has been released by the Vatican, stated he wished to break with tradition and be buried in Rome's Basilica of Saint Mary Major and "without particular decoration", and that his resting place bore the inscription Franciscus, his papal name in Latin.

Francis became the first Pope in more than half a century to not be buried in the crypt of St Peter's Basilica within the Vatican, in accordance with his wishes, and was instead laid to rest in Rome's Basilica of St Mary Major.