Robert Prevost has become the first clergyman from the United States to lead the Roman Catholic church, ending the Vatican’s longstanding opposition to the idea of a US pontiff.
The 69-year-old from Chicago has taken the papal name Pope Leo XIV, a senior cardinal announced from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica on Thursday evening.
The announcement, which followed white smoke billowing from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel, prompted raucous celebration and delight among the 50,000 pilgrims and tourists in St Peter’s Square.
That’s true, will they even let him into the country since he went and changed his name and it doesn’t match his birth certificate anymore?