'Leone!' Vatican crowds hail Leo XIV as new pope of the Catholic Church

It felt like the square could talk in one voice: “Leone! Leone! Leone!”

Thousands of people in St Peter’s Square chanted in chorus the name adopted by Robert Prevost as he ascended to the papacy on Thursday: Leo XIV.

Just an hour and a half earlier, white smoke had billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, announcing that a conclave of cardinals had elected a new leader for the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

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