Days of waiting, silences full of hope and collective prayer: this photo reportage documents the most intense moments experienced in St. Peter's Square during the Conclave that led to the election of Pope Leo XIV.

Through a sequence of images in a square packed with the faithful, pilgrims and onlookers from all over the world.

The two black smokes rising from the Sistine Chapel mark the shattering of hopes and the beginning of new prayers.

People pray, sing, hug their neighbors in a collective ritual of waiting and communion.

Then, finally, the turning point: a column of white smoke in the sky above the Vatican. The bells ring out. The emotion becomes palpable: A new chapter for the Church.

The cardinals on the balconies of St. Peter's Basilica, faces marked by the solemnity of the moment. Finally, the long-awaited announcement: Habemus Papam. A roar runs through the square, followed by a thick silence when Pope Leo XIV appears and greets the world for the first time. The story of a square that breathes together, of a faith that is renewed, of a people who, in waiting, manage to feel united.