Robert Francis Prevost becomes Pope Leo XIV as cardinals elect first US pontiff
www.theguardian.com
Leo says ‘evil will not prevail’ as he addresses crowd of 100,000 pilgrims and tourists in St Peter’s Square

Robert Prevost has become the first clergyman from the United States to lead the Roman Catholic church, ending the Vatican’s longstanding opposition to the idea of a US pontiff.

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.

The announcement, which followed white smoke billowing from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel, prompted raucous celebration and delight among the 50,000 pilgrims and tourists in St Peter’s Square.

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
    0·
    13 hours ago

    ending the Vatican’s longstanding opposition to the idea of a US pontiff.

    And there is totally absolutely nothing suspicious, this is just the bestest evah option for a new pope because all popes should be Americans because Americans are the best.

  • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    15 hours ago

    Any hope of some actual positive reform with this guy, or are we back to old cult dance of fucking alter boys and sucking political dick?

  • kandoh@reddthat.com
    0·
    18 hours ago

    American pope!

    crowd boos

    woke for an American!

    crowd goes wild

    bad on protecting abusive priests!

    crowd boos

    hates JD Vance!

    crowd goes wild

  • abbadon420@lemm.ee
    0·
    18 hours ago

    Its a good pope. He will likely be continuing the progressive course of the old pope

    • Diddlydee@feddit.ukEnglish
      0·
      18 hours ago

      The old pope? Wasn’t his right hand man a paedophile, and - as usual - he was moved around and saw no justice, under Francis’ watch? No such thing as a good pope.

      • abbadon420@lemm.ee
        0·
        16 hours ago

        Francis allowed gay marriage and gay priests. He opened the church to criminal investigations when there were allegations of fraud. He got vaccinated against covid and encouraged everyone to do the same. He encouraged people to take climate change serious. He was very connected with poor people and immigrants, didn’t live in a palace.

        He wasn’t perfect, but better than his predecessors. He still denied transgender people and was not very proactive on allowing gay marriage. He spoke against sexual abuse in the church, but effectively did not do much about it. He claimed a zero tolerance, but did not practice it. He was very outspoken against abortion.

        All in all he put the church on a more progressive and modern path and that’s a good thing. I also think the church is bullshit, but they influence a whole lot of people, so it’s good if they follow a less evil path. Don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress.

          • abbadon420@lemm.ee
            0·
            15 hours ago

            Do you mean Victor Manuel Fernandez? Seems like he didn’t handle allegations a pedophilia on account of one of his underlings very well, but that makes him a bad leader.

            Although… it’s not an easy thing to handle. I once volunteered in a team that taught small children and there was one person who crossed the line during my time there. (I never witnessed any of it). It wasn’t so bad that police had to get involved. No touchy stuff, “just” bad words. But it was bad enough that we had to fire the guy and blacklist the guy and have a few meetings with parents. By the way, we would have involved police if parents wanted, but they didn’t.

            As an organistion, you’re wholy unprepared to handle ith this situation and it always catches you by surprise. So of course we did not fire the guy immediately. Than it happened again and we were better prepared and fired the guy after a rough talk.

            The curch is not a small organisation and should have already had procedures in place for that kind of situation. But the cardinal himself and his constituency (or what you call it) is much smaller and it may have taken him by surprise as well. It’s only human to make mistakes in a situation like this. He even admitted his mistake shortly after.

  • JaymesRS@literature.cafeEnglish
    0·
    18 hours ago

    Chicago pope proclaims he’s “on a mission from God”, looking to “get the band back together.”

  • SW42@lemmy.world
    0·
    18 hours ago

    Either they elected a new pope or they are burning coolant, meaning the papal headgasket has blown.