Following Pope Francis’s passing, the Sacred College of Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel had to elect a new pope. Yesterday ( May 8, 2025 ) the new pope, Robert Francis Prevost was chosen! The process to select the new pope is as follows; In the Sistine Chapel, cardinals write their vote on a piece of paper then place those votes in an urn. The papers are one by one selected from the urn and read allowed, followed by a tally and the paper strung on a thread using a needle. After all the papers have been strung – making a garland of a sort – and all the votes are accounted for, they burn the garland along with added chemicals called potassium perchlorate, sulfur, and anthracene. These chemicals produce either a white or black smoke, black smoke means the voting process shall continue and white smoke indicates two thirds of the majority have voted. 

The new Pope, Prevost grew up in Chicago making him the first Pope from the United States of America. Before becoming Pope, he previously worked in Peru as a teacher, missionary, priest and eventually bishop, his time spent there also made him a citizen! He spent his time trending, giving food and supplies to citizens who have suffered from floods as they are frequent around that area. Pope Prevost similarly mirrors Pope Francis’s past policies and ideas regarding politics, though the new Pope and the past Pope are thought to have different views on LGBTQ+ and other matters. 

Rest in peace to Jorge Mario Bergoglio and heaping gratitude for everything he did and achieved in his time. Yet a big hooray to Robert Francis Prevost! 

Cites – 

https://www.npr.org

www.nytimes.com