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White smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel chimney and the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica rang out on Thursday, confirming that the College of Cardinals had elected a new pope to lead the Roman Catholic Church following the death of Pope Francis.
Roman Catholic cardinals on Thursday elected US Cardinal Robert Prevost as the new pope, marking a historic moment for the 1.4-billion-member Church.
Prevost, a Chicago native, has taken the papal name Leo XIV. He is the first American to be elected pope.
Habemus Papam! We have a Pope! The Cardinals gathered in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel have elected Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the 267th Pope, who took the name Pope Leo XIV.
The election came on the first full day of voting by the 133 cardinal electors, who began their secret deliberations behind closed doors in the Vatican on Wednesday afternoon.
The traditional sign of white smoke was met with cheers and applause from the thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square, signalling the Church’s transition to a new papacy.
Pope Francis died on April 21 after a 12-year pontificate marked by a drive to modernize the Church and open up discussions on sensitive issues such as the ordination of women and greater inclusion of LGBT Catholics.
His death set the stage for a pivotal conclave, with cardinals weighing whether to continue his reformist path or return to a more traditionalist direction.
Among the leading contenders were Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s long-serving Secretary of State, and Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.
Other names that circulated as possible successors included Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of France, Cardinal Peter Erdo of Hungary, Cardinal Robert Prevost of the United States, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa of Italy, and Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David of the Philippines.
The new pope required the backing of at least two-thirds of the cardinal electors.
As per conclave tradition, the only communication from inside the Sistine Chapel was the smoke signal: black for no decision, white for a successful election.
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