THE NEW POPE IN VATICAN CITY

   Robert Francis Prevost, 69, has become the 267th occupant of the throne of St Peter and he will be known as Leo XIV. He is the first American to fill the role of pope, although he is considered as much a cardinal from Latin America because of the many years he spent as a missionary in Peru

     Born in Chicago in 1955 to parents of Spanish and Franco-Italian descent, Leo served as an altar boy and was ordained in 1982.Although he moved to Peru three years later, he returned regularly to the US to serve as a priest and a prior in his home city.

He has Peruvian nationality and is fondly remembered as a figure who worked with marginalised communities and helped build bridges.

He spent 10 years as a local parish pastor and as a teacher at a seminary in Trujillo in north-western Peru.

     Although Leo was born in the US, the Vatican described him as the second pope from the Americas (Francis was from Argentina).

Jari Honora, a genealogist and historian in the US state of Louisiana, said Leo has strong ties to New Orleans' black community.

He told the BBC that the new pontiff's maternal grandparents lived in a now-demolished home in the city's seventh ward, and she also rented a place in the iconic Pontalba building in New Orleans' French Quarter.

Mr Honora said Pope Leo's grandparents are described as black or mulatto in historical records, but that the family's identity was listed as white when they moved to Chicago - a common practice among black families looking to escape racial segregation.

The Pope's background "indicates that [American] stories, the experiences of our ancestors are more tightly woven than we could have ever imagined," he said.

"It shrinks that gap between Rome and New Orleans or New Orleans and Chicago

     THE FIRST SPEECH  MADE BY  THE NEW POPE (LEO XIV)

        In his inaugural speech from St. Peter's Square, Pope Leo XIV called for the Church to "build bridges" and "welcome everyone". He also expressed a desire for "a disarmed peace and a disarming peace" and signaled his intention to continue some of Pope Francis's progressive approaches, particularly on issues like migration and climate change, according to Al Jazeera. His first public address, delivered in Italian and Spanish, emphasized unity, missionary work, and the importance of dialogue. 

                                                          

                                                     ..Funky..