How an American Cardinal Beat the Odds to Become Pope
VATICAN CITY—Cardinal Robert Prevost, seated beneath Michelangelo's monumental fresco of the Last Judgement, buried his head in his hands as the sound of his name echoed off the walls of the Sistine Chapel.
It was Thursday morning, and the prelates running the conclave were reading out the ballots. The papal election was shifting the way of the Chicago-born cardinal. His tally was rising with each round of voting, while support for the early front-runner—Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin—was stagnating.
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