NEW POPE ELECTED
The white smoke that came out of the Sistine Chapel’s chimney on the second day of voting meant a big announcement was on the way.
The news? A new pope has been elected.
The 69-year-old American Robert Francis Prevost has become the 267th head of the Catholic Church. From now on, he’ll be known as Leo XIV.
Pope Leo was born in Chicago in 1955. Soon after he was ordained in 1982, he moved to Peru. He has spent the last few decades in Peru and even has dual citizenship.
During his first speech as the new Pope, Leo had only kind words to say about his predecessor, Pope Francis.
“We still hear in our ears the weak but always courageous voice of Pope Francis, who blessed us,” he said.
“United and hand-in-hand with God, let us advance together,” he told cheering crowds outside St Peter’s Basilica.
The BBC reports that Pope Leo is well known to cardinals because of his high-profile role as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in Latin America, which has the important task of selecting and supervising bishops.
Image credit: People