Friday, May 9

The Catholic Church chose a new pope yesterday at the Vatican, with the cardinals making a surprising decision to elect the first-ever American pope.

Following the death of Pope Francis several weeks ago, the Catholic Church was forced to hold a conclave, where the church's cardinals would elect a new pope. This conclave began on Wednesday in the Sistine Chapel, and ended earlier than expected.

Conclaves are a meeting of all of the cardinals in the Catholic Church, who gather to take a vote on the next pope. Specifically for conclaves, a temporary chimney is installed on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, where the cardinals will release smoke of a certain color to signal their progress in the election.

During the event, cardinals can have no contact with the outside world, and they must stay inside the Vatican with no access to their phones or the internet. Once the conclave comes to an end, the cardinals are sworn to secrecy-- the only piece of information they can reveal is the identity of the newly-elected pope.

The conclave's first day was on Wednesday, but the black-colored smoke that emerged from the chimney at the end of the day gave everyone a signal that the first rounds of voting had been unsuccessful. A two-thirds majority is needed to choose a new pope, and due to the split nature of the Catholic Church's opinions on various issues, the conclave was expected to take some time.

Nevertheless, the meeting came to an unexpectedly early end yesterday when white smoke emerged from the chimney, signaling the end of the conclave. Anxious onlookers watched as the church revealed the identity of the new pope, which was another surprise. There were many possible successors to Pope Francis, and external news sources and various reporters had heavily speculated on the favorites for the election and who was most likely to win the majority.

However, those speculations were proved wrong when Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, a 69-year-old American from Chicago, was elected to be the 267th pope during the conclave. He is the first-ever pope from the United States, and he will be known as Pope Leo XIV. His arrival as pope came as a shock to many, but he is expected to follow in Pope Francis' footsteps and continue some of the same initiatives that his predecessor had worked on.

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In a Sentence: The band enjoyed a modicum of success in the early 2010s before becoming an international sensation.