White smoke signals election of new Roman Catholic pope
The smoke was met with loud applause from the thousands of pilgrims and tourists waiting in St Peter's Square. It means that one of the 133 cardinals inside the chapel has obtained the necessary two-thirds majority required to win the conclave, the secretive centuries-old ritual of electing a new pontiff.
The pope was chosen on the second day of voting, after the fourth ballot, although his identity was not immediately made known. When Jorge Bergoglio, who became Pope Francis, was elected in March 2013, his identity was revealed about 45 minutes after the white smoke when he appeared on the balcony above St Peter's Square.
Francis died, aged 88, in April. His successor was picked quickly, especially given the large number of cardinals taking part in the conclave. The vast majority were picked by the Argentinian, who cast his net wide around the world.
Some have said this could indicate that the new pope is someone who will embrace his outlook and continue his work. But there is no guarantee, particularly given many of the new cardinals represent countries with conservative social attitudes at odds with Francis's style of papacy, which was shaped around a message of acceptance that challenged centuries of church teaching.
Francis riled conservative cardinals with his compassion for migrants and refugees, openness towards LGBTQ+ Catholics and demands for action on the climate crisis.
Among the frontrunners before the conclave began were Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state; Luis Antonio Tagle, a reformer from the Philippines; Péter Erdő, a traditionalist from Hungary; Robert Sarah, a cardinal from Guinea who criticised Francis's papacy; and the moderate US cardinal Robert Prevost.
But as the old papal election saying goes: 'He who enters the conclave as pope, leaves it as a cardinal', because few of those who are frontrunners at the start make it through the successive rounds of voting. A key example of that process came with Francis himself, who in 2013 was not among the frontrunners.
During one of the twice-daily pre-conclave meetings, the cardinals agreed that a new pope needed to be capable of 'being a bridge and a guide for a disorientated humanity marked by the crisis of the world order'.
Various issues related to the church were discussed during the meetings, including evangelisation, the Vatican's finances, clerical sexual abuse, global conflicts and service to poor people and migrants.
A priority for the new pope will be to strengthen the church's unity amid differing views and expectations within the institution and growing polarisation in the wider world. Some observers believe there is a real risk of schism after 20 years in which there have been popes on either end of the spectrum: the traditional/conservative Benedict XVI, and the liberal/progressive Francis.
A key area of unity and healing will be the US Catholic church, where Pope Francis was a divisive figure. Some US bishops are avid supporters of Donald Trump while others are dismayed by the president's policies and statements. An early visit to the US may be high on the new pope's agenda.
The pontiff plays an important role on the international stage, particularly to ensure that religion does not become a fault line. He will face ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East and Sudan plus the politically divisive issues of migration, the climate crisis, religious freedom and human rights.
The legacy of sexual abuse cast a long shadow over Francis's papacy. He was slow to grasp the scale and systemic nature of the problem, and at first did not understand the pain and anger of survivors. That pain has not gone away, and the new pope's approach will inevitably come under intense scrutiny.
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Telegraph
9 hours ago
- Telegraph
Anger in Italy over rise in privatised beaches
Italians are in revolt against the privatisation of the country's coast as vast stretches of beach are taken over by lucrative beach clubs, bars and restaurants. The 'stabilimento' or beach club is a long-standing tradition in Italy where customers pay a premium for umbrellas, loungers, showers and readily available food and drink. In the past, the rest of the beach remained accessible to the public for free. But the country's thousands of beach clubs have encroached on ever greater stretches of sand. The number of beach concessions has increased by 12 per cent in recent years. Now, many Italians have had enough, especially as inflation and the cost of living crisis means an increasing number of families have been unable to have a holiday at all this summer or have taken much shorter breaks. The spread of private beach clubs 'represents a silent expropriation', La Stampa, an Italian daily, commented this week. 'In Italy, they are stealing even the seaside. Free beaches are becoming ever rarer. And those which are not free are ever more expensive.' For the 35 per cent of working-age Italians who earn €15,000 (£13,000) a year or less, private beach clubs are out of reach. Protests against the beach squeeze have sprung up across the country, from Liguria in the north to Sicily in the south. Matteo Hallissey, the head of centre-Left party +Europa, was shoved and verbally abused recently when he staged a protest on a beach south of Rome. Beach club operators at Lavinio near Anzio had put up signs that read 'Spiaggia privata' or 'Private beach'. Accompanied by a colleague, Ivan Grieco, Mr Hallissey told the operators that the signs were illegal. When he planted an umbrella in the sand he was jostled and pushed to the ground. 'Things are really changing this year. People are sick and tired of this situation, they're angry,' the politician, who has a British father and an Italian mother, told The Telegraph. 'Year by year the beach establishments take over more space, eating into what used to be free beach areas. We are seeing a lot more protests. People are increasingly aware of what is going on. 'Not only are the beach clubs expanding, they're increasing their prices each year. And the staff are often rude.' Many Italians have skipped a beach holiday entirely this year, either because they cannot afford it or because they opted to go to the Alps or Dolomites to escape rising temperatures on the coast. Some beach clubs have reported a 25 per cent decline in the number of customers so far this summer. The protest at Lavinio was the latest in a series of actions that Mr Hallissey has launched. He and his supporters are planning more protests in the coming weeks in Lazio, the region that encompasses Rome, and Campania to the south which includes Naples. 'It is a particularly Italian problem. In other European countries the sector is more regulated. But in Italy, the beach operators are a very strong lobby. Politicians are afraid of them, they don't have the courage to stand up to them. Successive governments have failed to tackle the problem, not just the current government led by Giorgia Meloni. It's been going on for 20 years.' In the beach resort of Mondello in Sicily there have been vociferous protests against turnstiles erected by beach clubs to control access to the sand. Authorities announced this week they will take action and have ordered the turnstiles to be removed. 'Permission should not be given to this kind of device, which blocks access to the water's edge,' said Giusi Savarino, a regional politician. 'People must be allowed to reach the sea freely and without paying. No authorisation was granted for the turnstiles, and they will be removed.' Ismaele La Vardera, an MP who campaigned against the barriers, said: 'This is a victory not just for Mondello but for all Sicilians, considering the effect it will have on the whole island.' In the southern region of Basilicata, police had to intervene in the town of Metaponto after a public beach was taken over by private beach club operators. Officers confiscated hundreds of sun loungers and umbrellas that had been illegally placed on the sand. At a beach called Spiaggia delle Monache near Naples, campaigners protested against a section being fenced off by private operators. At an exclusive beach club called Twiga, in Marina di Pietrasanta on the coast of Tuscany, activists stuck umbrellas in the sand as a way of symbolically reclaiming the beach. Some beach club operators have even illegally tried to charge people for the privilege of bringing their own food and drink onto the sand. 'In reality, all beaches should be free and there should be no cases in which people are denied access to the water's edge to have a swim,' says Massimo Melpignano, a lawyer from the consumer organisation Konsumer Italia. 'Beach clubs are permitted to manage a public asset and to charge people for the services they offer, but they cannot run the beach as if it was their private property.' In the north-western coastal region of Liguria, it is estimated that 70 per cent of beaches are now occupied by private clubs, campsites and resorts. In the northern region of Emilia Romagna, which has a long Adriatic coastline, the figure is 69.5 per cent, while in Campania, which includes Naples, Sorrento and the islands of Capri and Ischia, the proportion is 68 per cent. At some resorts, the proportion of the beach which remains free to access is as low as 3 per cent. 'A public asset is now in the hands of the private sector,' said Stefano Bigliazzi, who is the head of the regional branch of Legambiente, an Italian environmental organisation. Josi Della Ragione, the mayor of Bacoli on the coast west of Naples, has made a name for himself by standing up to bullying beach club operators. Fathers hand down these places Bacoli is renowned as a summer playground for Neapolitans. There is big money to be made, the resort can host up to 100,000 people a day during the summer. Mr Della Ragione was Italy's youngest mayor when he was first elected at the age of 28 and is now on his third term. He has campaigned tirelessly against rapacious beach club owners who regard the coast as their personal domain. 'Fathers hand down these places to their sons, grandfathers to their grandchildren. There has been a continual privatisation of beaches,' he told The Telegraph. He has ordered the removal of umbrellas and sun loungers on stretches which should be public and has authorised the demolition of buildings, walls and fences which were built without permission. 'All these things are obstructions which stop people from reaching the sea. In the last few years we have managed to return 10,000 square metres of beach to the public. And we have decreed that for every beach, at least 50 per cent should be accessible to the public. Right now, there are beaches where the freely accessible area is just 10-15 per cent of the total.' But he has clearly upset some powerful local interests. In April he was sent two letters, each containing a bullet. The case was referred to the police. But the mayor said: 'For too long, beach operators have used the coast for their own private gain. But I'm not giving up.'
The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
What we have learnt from 100 days of Pope Leo XIV
When Pope Leo XIV surprised tens of thousands of young people at a recent Holy Year celebration with an impromptu popemobile romp around St. Peter's Square, it almost seemed as if some of the informal spontaneity that characterized Pope Francis ' 12-year papacy had returned to the Vatican. But the message Leo delivered that night was all his own: In seamless English, Spanish and Italian, Leo told the young people that they were the 'salt of the Earth, the light of the world.' He urged them to spread their hope, faith in Christ and their cries of peace wherever they go. As Robert Prevost marks his 100th day as Pope Leo this weekend, the contours of his pontificate have begun to come into relief, primarily where he shows continuity with Francis and where he signals change. Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that after 12 sometimes turbulent years under Francis, a certain calm and reserve have returned to the papacy. Leo seems eager above all to avoid polemics or making the papacy about himself, and wants instead to focus on Christ and peace. That seems exactly what many Catholic faithful want, and may respond to what today's church needs. 'He's been very direct and forthright … but he's not doing spontaneous press hits,' said Kevin Hughes, chair of theology and religious studies at Leo's alma mater, Villanova University. Leo has a different style than Francis, and that has brought relief to many, Hughes said in a telephone interview. 'Even those who really loved Pope Francis always kind of held their breath a little bit: You didn't know what was going to come out next or what he was going to do,' Hughes said. Leo has certainly gone out of his way in his first 100 days to try to heal divisions that deepened during Francis' pontificate, offering messages of unity and avoiding controversy at almost every turn. Even his signature issue — confronting the promise and peril posed by artificial intelligence — is something that conservatives and progressives alike agree is important. Francis' emphasis on caring for the environment and migrants often alienated conservatives. Closer to home, Leo offered the Holy See bureaucracy a reassuring, conciliatory message after Francis' occasionally authoritarian style rubbed some in the Vatican the wrong way. 'Popes come and go, but the Curia remains,' Leo told Vatican officials soon after his May 8 election. Leo, though, has cemented Francis' environmental legacy by celebrating the first-ever ecologically inspired Mass. He has furthered that legacy by giving the go-ahead for the Vatican to turn a 430-hectare (1,000-acre) field north of Rome into a vast solar farm that should generate enough electricity to meet Vatican City 's needs and turn it into the world's first carbon-neutral state. He has fine-tuned financial transparency regulations that Francis initiated, tweaked some other decrees to give them consistency and logic, and confirmed Francis in deciding to declare one of the 19th century's most influential saints, John Henry Newman, a 'doctor' of the church. But he hasn't granted any sit-down, tell-all interviews or made headline-grabbing, off-the-cuff comments like his predecessor did. He hasn't made any major appointments, including to fill his old job, or taken any big trips. In marking the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki last week, he had a chance to match Francis' novel declaration that the mere possession of nuclear weapons was 'immoral.' But he didn't. Compared to President Donald Trump, the other American world leader who took office in 2025 with a flurry of Sharpie-penned executive decrees, Leo has eased into his new job slowly, deliberately and quietly, almost trying not to draw attention to himself. At 69, he seems to know that he has time on his side, and that after Francis' revolutionary papacy, the church might need a bit of a breather. One Vatican official who knows Leo said he expects his papacy will have the effect of a 'calming rain' on the church. Maria Isabel Ibarcena Cuarite, a Peruvian member of a Catholic charismatic group, said it was precisely Leo's quiet emphasis on church traditions, its sacraments and love of Christ, that drew her and upward of 1 million young people to Rome for a special Jubilee week this month. Ibarcena said Francis had confused young people like herself with his outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and approval of blessings for same-sex couples. Such gestures went beyond what a pope was supposed to do and what the church taught, she thought. Leo, she said, has emphasized that marriage is a sacrament between men and woman. 'Francis was ambiguous, but he is firm,' she said. From his very first appearance on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, Leo has insisted he is first and foremost a 'son of St. Augustine. ' It was a reference to the fifth century theological and devotional giant of early Christianity, St. Augustine of Hippo, who inspired the 13th century religious Augustinian order as a community of 'mendicant' friars. Like the other big mendicant orders of the early church — the Franciscans, Dominicans and Carmelites — the Augustinians spread across Christian Europe over the centuries. Today, Augustinian spirituality is rooted in a deep interior life of prayer, living in community, and journeying together in search of truth in God. In nearly every speech or homily since his May 8 election, Leo has cited Augustine in one way or another. 'I see a kind of Augustinian flavor in the way that he's presenting all these things,' said Hughes, the theology professor who is an Augustine scholar. Leo joined the Augustinians after graduating from Augustinian-run Villanova, outside Philadelphia, and was twice elected its prior general. He has visited the Augustinian headquarters outside St. Peter's a few times since his election, and some wonder if he will invite some brothers to live with him in the Apostolic Palace to recreate the spirit of Augustinian community life there. Leo is also very much a product of the Francis papacy. Francis named Prevost bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014 and then moved him to head one of the most important Vatican jobs in 2023 — vetting bishop nominations. In retrospect, it seems Francis had his eye on Prevost as a possible successor. Given Francis' stump speech before the 2013 conclave that elected him pope, the then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio essentially described Prevost in identifying the church's mission today: He said the church was "called to go outside of itself and go to the peripheries, not just geographic but also the existential peripheries.' Prevost, who hails from Chicago, spent his adult life as a missionary in Peru, eventually becoming bishop of Chiclayo. 'He is the incarnation of the 'unity of difference,' because he comes from the center, but he lives in the peripheries,' said Emilce Cuda, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Cuda said during a recent conference hosted by Georgetown University that Leo encapsulated in 'word and gesture' the type of missionary church Francis promoted. That said, for all Leo owes to Bergoglio, the two didn't necessarily get along. Prevost has recounted that at one point when he was the Augustinian superior, the then-archbishop of Buenos Aires expressed interest in assigning an Augustinian priest to a specific job in his archdiocese. 'And I, as prior general, said 'I understand, Your Eminence, but he's got to do something else' and so I transferred him somewhere else,' Prevost told parishioners in his home state of Illinois in 2024. Prevost said he 'naively' thought the Francis wouldn't remember him after his 2013 election, and that regardless 'he'll never appoint me bishop' due to the disagreement. Bergoglio not only made him bishop, he laid the groundwork for Prevost to succeed him as pope, the first North American pope following the first South American.
The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
100 days of Pope Leo XIV: a calm papacy that avoids polemics is coming into focus
When Pope Leo XIV surprised tens of thousands of young people at a recent Holy Year celebration with an impromptu popemobile romp around St. Peter's Square, it almost seemed as if some of the informal spontaneity that characterized Pope Francis' 12-year papacy had returned to the Vatican. But the message Leo delivered that night was all his own: In seamless English, Spanish and Italian, Leo told the young people that they were the 'salt of the Earth, the light of the world.' He urged them to spread their hope, faith in Christ and their cries of peace wherever they go. As Robert Prevost marks his 100th day as Pope Leo this weekend, the contours of his pontificate have begun to come into relief, primarily where he shows continuity with Francis and where he signals change. Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that after 12 sometimes turbulent years under Francis, a certain calm and reserve have returned to the papacy. Leo seems eager above all to avoid polemics or making the papacy about himself, and wants instead to focus on Christ and peace. That seems exactly what many Catholic faithful want, and may respond to what today's church needs. 'He's been very direct and forthright … but he's not doing spontaneous press hits,' said Kevin Hughes, chair of theology and religious studies at Leo's alma mater, Villanova University. Leo has a different style than Francis, and that has brought relief to many, Hughes said in a telephone interview. 'Even those who really loved Pope Francis always kind of held their breath a little bit: You didn't know what was going to come out next or what he was going to do,' Hughes said. An effort to avoid polemics Leo has certainly gone out of his way in his first 100 days to try to heal divisions that deepened during Francis' pontificate, offering messages of unity and avoiding controversy at almost every turn. Even his signature issue — confronting the promise and peril posed by artificial intelligence — is something that conservatives and progressives alike agree is important. Francis' emphasis on caring for the environment and migrants often alienated conservatives. Closer to home, Leo offered the Holy See bureaucracy a reassuring, conciliatory message after Francis' occasionally authoritarian style rubbed some in the Vatican the wrong way. 'Popes come and go, but the Curia remains,' Leo told Vatican officials soon after his May 8 election. Continuity with Francis is still undeniable Leo, though, has cemented Francis' environmental legacy by celebrating the first-ever ecologically inspired Mass. He has furthered that legacy by giving the go-ahead for the Vatican to turn a 430-hectare (1,000-acre) field north of Rome into a vast solar farm that should generate enough electricity to meet Vatican City's needs and turn it into the world's first carbon-neutral state. He has fine-tuned financial transparency regulations that Francis initiated, tweaked some other decrees to give them consistency and logic, and confirmed Francis in deciding to declare one of the 19th century's most influential saints, John Henry Newman, a 'doctor' of the church. But he hasn't granted any sit-down, tell-all interviews or made headline-grabbing, off-the-cuff comments like his predecessor did. He hasn't made any major appointments, including to fill his old job, or taken any big trips. In marking the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki last week, he had a chance to match Francis' novel declaration that the mere possession of nuclear weapons was 'immoral.' But he didn't. Compared to President Donald Trump, the other American world leader who took office in 2025 with a flurry of Sharpie-penned executive decrees, Leo has eased into his new job slowly, deliberately and quietly, almost trying not to draw attention to himself. At 69, he seems to know that he has time on his side, and that after Francis' revolutionary papacy, the church might need a bit of a breather. One Vatican official who knows Leo said he expects his papacy will have the effect of a 'calming rain' on the church. Maria Isabel Ibarcena Cuarite, a Peruvian member of a Catholic charismatic group, said it was precisely Leo's quiet emphasis on church traditions, its sacraments and love of Christ, that drew her and upward of 1 million young people to Rome for a special Jubilee week this month. Ibarcena said Francis had confused young people like herself with his outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and approval of blessings for same-sex couples. Such gestures went beyond what a pope was supposed to do and what the church taught, she thought. Leo, she said, has emphasized that marriage is a sacrament between men and woman. 'Francis was ambiguous, but he is firm,' she said. An Augustinian pope From his very first appearance on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, Leo has insisted he is first and foremost a 'son of St. Augustine. ' It was a reference to the fifth century theological and devotional giant of early Christianity, St. Augustine of Hippo, who inspired the 13th century religious Augustinian order as a community of 'mendicant' friars. Like the other big mendicant orders of the early church — the Franciscans, Dominicans and Carmelites — the Augustinians spread across Christian Europe over the centuries. Today, Augustinian spirituality is rooted in a deep interior life of prayer, living in community, and journeying together in search of truth in God. In nearly every speech or homily since his May 8 election, Leo has cited Augustine in one way or another. 'I see a kind of Augustinian flavor in the way that he's presenting all these things,' said Hughes, the theology professor who is an Augustine scholar. Leo joined the Augustinians after graduating from Augustinian-run Villanova, outside Philadelphia, and was twice elected its prior general. He has visited the Augustinian headquarters outside St. Peter's a few times since his election, and some wonder if he will invite some brothers to live with him in the Apostolic Palace to recreate the spirit of Augustinian community life there. A missionary pope in the image of Francis Leo is also very much a product of the Francis papacy. Francis named Prevost bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014 and then moved him to head one of the most important Vatican jobs in 2023 — vetting bishop nominations. In retrospect, it seems Francis had his eye on Prevost as a possible successor. Given Francis' stump speech before the 2013 conclave that elected him pope, the then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio essentially described Prevost in identifying the church's mission today: He said the church was "called to go outside of itself and go to the peripheries, not just geographic but also the existential peripheries.' Prevost, who hails from Chicago, spent his adult life as a missionary in Peru, eventually becoming bishop of Chiclayo. 'He is the incarnation of the 'unity of difference,' because he comes from the center, but he lives in the peripheries,' said Emilce Cuda, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Cuda said during a recent conference hosted by Georgetown University that Leo encapsulated in 'word and gesture' the type of missionary church Francis promoted. That said, for all Leo owes to Bergoglio, the two didn't necessarily get along. Prevost has recounted that at one point when he was the Augustinian superior, the then-archbishop of Buenos Aires expressed interest in assigning an Augustinian priest to a specific job in his archdiocese. 'And I, as prior general, said 'I understand, Your Eminence, but he's got to do something else' and so I transferred him somewhere else,' Prevost told parishioners in his home state of Illinois in 2024. Prevost said he 'naively' thought the Francis wouldn't remember him after his 2013 election, and that regardless 'he'll never appoint me bishop' due to the disagreement. Bergoglio not only made him bishop, he laid the groundwork for Prevost to succeed him as pope, the first North American pope following the first South American. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
