Announcement prompts raucous celebration and delight among 50,000 pilgrims and tourists in St Peter’s Square
Robert Prevost has become the first American to lead the Roman Catholic church, ending the Vatican’s longstanding opposition to the idea of a pontiff from the United States.
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.
