The American Robert Francis Prevost, 69, became the first pope from the United States under the name of Léon XIV. He delivered his first speech as a sovereign pontiff.DR/Vatican Live Vatican screenshot
The Catholics have a pope: white smoke came out Thursday after 6:00 p.m. from the sixtine chapel chimney, announcing the election of François’s successor at the end of a short conclave and triggering the jubilation of the faithful gathered at Place Saint-Pierre.
The new pope launched a “appeal of peace” to “all peoples” during his first speech from the Balcony of the Saint-Pierre basilica in the Vatican. He also called to “build bridges” through “dialogue”, calling for “going ahead” “without fear, united, hand in hand with God and between us”.
White smoke was released Thursday shortly after 6 p.m. from the Sistine Chapel chimney.DR/Vatican Live Vatican screenshot
During the election of François in 2013, the wait between white smoke and announcement had also lasted just over an hour.
Donald Trump quickly reacted: he congratulated Pope Leo XIV and spoke of a “great honor” for the United States.
These thousands of faithful and tourists massaged on Saint-Pierre square praised with cheers of joy and applause the appearance of white scrolls escaping from the thin fireplace planted on the roof of the Sistine Chapel.
The bells of the Saint-Pierre basilica and other churches of the eternal city began to ring in the fly.
The expectation of the revelation of the name of the elected official was not too long: the American Robert Francis Prevost, 69, became the first pope from the United States under the name of Leon XIV, announced the Vatican a little more than an hour later. A native of Chicago, this close collaborator of François, discreet and reserved, has a reputation within the Curia, the Vatican government, to be a moderate capable of reconciling divergent points of view.
The sovereign pontiff was elected after a ballot which promised to be very open, notably due to the record number of cardinals present.
He brought together a majority of two thirds, that is to say at least 89 votes, on his name. But due to the absolute secrecy surrounding the conclave, the details of the ballot are not known.
He succeeded François, died on April 21 at the age of 88, after a 12 -year -old pontificate.
Drastic isolation
The Cardinals’ meeting started on Wednesday evening, after an extremely codified ceremonial, and in drastic isolation: no mobile phone was authorized, and telecommunications networks were cut between the walls of the Vatican City.
Under the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, a record number of 133 prelates from 70 countries found themselves, many of which from the “peripheries” dear to Pope Francis who had appointed some 80% of the conclave.
Considerable challenges
The new pope will quickly face considerable challenges for a loss of speed in Europe: finances, fight against pedocrime, drop in vocations …
But it will also have to re -add the different currents of an institution in which very diverse cultural sensitivities coexist, between a secularized Europe and growth “peripheries”.
He will also have to appease an institution sometimes jostled by a pontificate punctuated by reforms and sliced words, which have been the subject of strong internal criticism.
During a final public mass on Wednesday morning, the dean of the Cardinalice college, the Italian Giovanni Battista Re, called to choose the pope “whose church and humanity need this difficult, complex and tormented turning point”, and pleaded “to maintain the unity of the church”.
(AFP)
