NEW POPE GETS BUSY
Leo XIV set for packed first week as head of Roman Catholic Church
HOLY MAN: Cardinal Robert Prevost will be known as Pope Leo XIV
Image: Vatican News/Facebook
IT WILL be a busy first week for new pope, Leo XIV.
Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevos was elected as the 267th pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, on Thursday night.
Cardinals chose Leo as the 267th pope at a secret conclave Thursday, praying he could heal rifts within the Church, renew faith among the world's 1.4 billion Catholics and address a host of modern-day challenges weighing on the more than 2 000-year-old institution.
Yesterday, the Pope greeted thousands of worshippers and well-wishers from St Peter’s Basilica, with the Regina Coeli prayer to the Virgin Mary, which is recited particularly during Easter, kicks off a busy week of meetings and audiences.
He gets straight into work then as on Monday, he will be officially presented to the international media who came to Rome to cover his election.
He plans to meet diplomats to the Vatican on Friday and then on Sunday, 18 May he presides over the inaugural mass at St Peter's to mark the beginning of his pontificate.