The Mirror’s chief reporter Andy Lines was in St Peter’s Square when white smoke finally emerged from the chimney yesterday, signifying that Robert Prevost had become Pope Leo XIV
It was an extraordinary moment to be inside St Peter’s Square as the white smoke suddenly emerged from the chimney. There was a huge roar from the crowd who had clearly been expecting it to be black smoke.
Within seconds there was chaotic joy. I was standing by one of the giant fountains to the front of the Basilica when the white smoke poured out into the blue sky dotted with white clouds. As everyone all immediately edged towards the centre of the Square to get a better view of the new Pope it was like being in the middle of a huge joyful rugby scrum.
At one point a nun, who must have been in her 70s, elbowed me in the ribs several times as she desperately tried to get closer to the front.
She was on her mobile phone shouting “Mamma Mia, Mamma Mia, Mamma Mia” into it over and over again. Over my shoulder to my left I watched hundreds of people sprinting in the streets outside to get through the metal detectors in time to see the Pope speak.
Several of them were heavily sweating priests. Even police officers raced from their posts into the square to watch history being made.
A group of 10 firefighters stood watching the big screens chatting excitedly. There had been a happy friendly ‘carnival’ atmosphere all day.
I found a group of young men waving a Union Jack. One of them was a British priest Theo Sharrock, 30.
Theo from the parish of the Good Samaritan in Burnley, Lancashire told me: “It’s such a privilege to hear on such an occasion. It’s a moment in history.”
Theo, originally from Altrincham, was actually at Burnley FC’s promotion parade earlier this month. Now he was here to see the election of a new Pope.
He said: “I trained here in Rome and came to see some friends and was able to combine the visit with watching such an important occasion.”
Before the announcement of the American Pope I remember seeing a single solitary Stars and Stripes being waved from the crowd.
Just before Pope Leo was introduced three Americans near me started bellowing ‘USA, USA, USA’. They quickly realised it was an inappropriate chant and stopped at the urging of the crowd.
One woman near me held up her three-year-old daughter and shouted joyfully in Italian. I asked what she said and she replied: ‘I told my daughter this is history – never forget it.”
I’m sure she hadn’t realised just how historic it would be just 30 minutes later with a Pope from the United States.
As the crowds started to grow from the early afternoon I even saw a group of priests playing cards. They were sitting under umbrellas, to protect themselves from the sun, happily playing cards as nuns watched nearby.