White smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on the second day of the Vatican's conclave, attended by nearly 130 cardinals, as they voted for American-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, to become the next pontiff.
His scheduled visit to South Korea is to attend World Youth Day (WYD), an international Catholic event that gathers hundreds of thousands of young believers from around the world.
The event, initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985, was last held in Lisbon in 2023, where his predecessor Pope Francis, announced Seoul as the next host city.
Once he travels to Seoul as planned, Prevost will become the third pope to visit the country, following Paul II who visited twice in 1984 and 1989, and Francis in 2014.
Meanwhile, Prevost is considered more moderate than his predecessor Francis, who was widely considered one of the most liberal popes.
Born in Chicago in 1955, Prevost was ordained as a priest in 1982 and is a member of the Order of Saint Augustine. He is the first American and the first from the order to ascend to the papacy.
He is also a citizen of Peru, where he has spent most of his life as a missionary, serving poor and underprivileged communities.
reporter
Im Yoon-seo
lyseo0330@ajupress.com
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