2 days Ago By SCMP Editorial
There was a moment of surprised silence before the crowd began cheering the Vatican announcement that Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was selected to be pope. Most of the people gathered at St Peter’s Square had never heard of the man now known as Leo XIV. Since Thursday, we have learned much more about the first US-born leader of 1.
4 billion Catholics. The new pope’s first public words were “peace be with you”. There are growing hopes he can make a difference in a troubled world.
Vatican experts said the cardinals chose him for continuity with the late Pope Francis. The choice came despite a long-held assumption that the global church could not be run by a pontiff from a superpower. Prevost is a 69-year-old missionary who spent decades ministering in Peru.
He holds Peruvian and American citizenship and is said to have deep knowledge of the West as well as less-developed nations..
