By Joshua McElwee, Crispian Balmer and Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -White smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel and the bells of St. Peter's rang out on Thursday, signalling that cardinals have elected a new pope to succeed Pope Francis and take charge of the Roman Catholic Church.

As cardinals gather at the Sistine Chapel to begin voting for a successor to Pope Francis, there is no single frontrunner, and it remains unclear whether the new pope will align with Francis’s more inclusive ideology.