Expepito Tuffrevillas II, a seminarian from the Philippines, was delighted. "I didn't know what to expect but prefer someone with firm views," he said. "I don't want to say conservative, because I don't believe there is left and right in the church, only right."
Joe Freedy, from Pittsburg in the US, was with a group of fellow seminarians and they could not contain themselves. Why? "Because we have a pope," Joe said. "I think he'll be great."
Looking to his colleagues, he said: "These guys are having a great time. It's a regular party."
And indeed St Peter's Square was by then a bit like one great rock fest with young people cheering wildly everywhere, some chanting "Benedicto, Benedicto, Benedicto".
Renate Schabus had just rung her son, a student in Vienna. He had not known there was a new pope or that she was in Rome.
She though the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger "a very good idea and he will be an old pope and won't last forever". He was "a little bit controversial", she thought, but hoped "he will do good. And it is good to have clear lines".
Kristin Weldon, from Haagan, near Dortmund in Germany, spoke beneath her national flag which was being carried by her brother. She was happy and "quite proud" that the first German in many years had been elected pope but . . . "it would have been nice had it been Karl Lehman or Cardinal Kaspar".
Patrick Barron, from Fort Valley in Virginia in the US, had been carrying a large stars and stripes flag in St Peter's Square for two days and was elated. He had been "hoping and praying" it would be Cardinal Ratzinger. He was "so close to the last pope" and "would solidify the church".
Suzanne Egan from Dublin and Sue Crofton from Kildare didn't know what to think. "We really expected an Italian," said Sue, but it had been a great experience being there, said Suzanne.
Fr Michael Kilmartin and Fr Paul Crosbie, both curates in Mullingar, had come to Rome for the conclave and to celebrate their 10th year as deacons.
They had breakfast with Cardinal Ratzinger when they were students in Rome and found him to be "a man of humility and simplicity", as Fr Crosbie put it, "who was also well aware of issues in Ireland".
Fr Kilmartin felt the new Pope would probably adopt a new role as pastor, passing on his role of enforcer of church doctrine. "Maybe to Cardinal Schonborn," [ of Vienna] suggested Fr Crosbie.
Johnny Brogan from Donore, Co Meath, compared surprise at Cardinal Ratzinger's election to that of Pope John XXIII in 1958, when he too was 78. "The office can make the man," he said.