After white smoke rose out of the Sistine Chapel’s chimney in Vatican City, the bells from Roman Catholic churches around the world started tolling.
Church of the Little Flower Rev. Manuel F. Alvarez, better known as “Father Manny,” was with St. Theresa School students.
“There were about 30 1st-graders inside the classroom and they just went nuts when they saw the white smoke,” Alvarez said.
Pope Francis’s successor, Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, of Chicago, secured at least 89 out of the 133 cardinals’ votes.
“It is a joyful day for the church,” Alvarez said.
The students watched on television in Coral Gables when the new leader of the church made his first appearance from a red-draped balcony at St. Peter’s Basilica for a solemn blessing.
Pope Leo XIV, who lived in Peru when he served as an Augustinian missionary and as archbishop of Chiclayo, delivered speeches in Italian and Spanish.
“God loves everyone,” the pope said.
The new pope was among the 10 electors from the United States who were eligible to vote.
Four of them are archbishops Blase Cupich, of Chicago; Timothy Dolan, of New York; Joseph Tobin, of Newark; and Robert McElroy of Washington.
Two of them are retired archbishops Wilton Gregory, of Washington; and Daniel DiNardo, of Galveston-Houston.
The other three cardinals were James Michael Harvey, born in Milwaukee; Raymond Burke, born in Richland Center; and Kevin Farrell, who was born in Dublin but serves in the U.S.
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