The numbers, as the saying goes, don’t lie. And heading into the conclave two days ago, anyone who could count had reason to expect a pope at least in the mould of Pope Francis, who appointed the majority of the cardinal electors.
Even so, few predicted the first American Bishop of Rome to emerge in the person of Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost – and the second pope in a row to arrive in Rome from South America.
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