In his first public words, Pope Leo told the crowds and a global audience ‘peace be with all of you’.

United States Cardinal Robert Prevost has been elected the first US pontiff in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church and has taken the name Pope Leo XIV. Pope Leo made his first public appearance to impart a blessing from the roofed area of St Peter’s Basilica. In his first public words, Pope Leo told the faithful “peace be with all of you”. He emphasised the theme of peace throughout the address.

“Evil will not prevail; we are in the hands of God,” he told the crowd and a global audience. “So without fear, united hand in hand with God and among ourselves, we go forward.” “Thank you, Pope Francis,” he added. The new church leader called for a “missionary church…that builds bridges, is always open to welcome everyone”.

“He is clearly setting the tone for his papacy,” Al Jazeera Hoda Abdel-Hamid reported from Vatican City. “He also had a political tone there, calling for peace everywhere, calling for disarmament, calling for building bridges. So we do get an idea in which direction he will be heading,” she said. “The excitement level is like that of a World Cup final,” she noted earlier. Pope Leo spent his career ministering in Peru and also lead the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops. Earlier, white smoke emerged out of the Sistine Chapel chimney, signalling that a new pope had been elected.

Bells rang out Thursday evening from the basilica after cardinals elected the 267th pope to lead the church on the second day of their conclave. The smoke signal meant the winner secured at least 89 of the votes from the 133 cardinals participating in the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis. A top cardinal uttered the words “Habemus papam!” – Latin for “We have a pope!” – from the loggia or roofed area of the basilica and then read the winner’s birth name in Latin and revealed the name he has chosen to be called.

The crowd erupted in jubilation after waiting for hours to see the colour of the smoke coming out of the Sistine Chapel’s chimney. Some had bought chairs, books and food for what many believed would have been a long wait.“Habemus papam!” a group of people chanted with emotion. (Aljazeera)