Robert Prevost elected first American pope
Newshour
BBC
4.4 • 984 Ratings
🗓️ 8 May 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
US-born Robert Prevost, who once lived as a bishop in Peru, has been chosen as the new pope. It marks the first time an American man will serve as the leader of the Catholic Church. We hear from the BBC’s Mark Lowen at the Vatican and get reaction from the US on this historic day.
Also in the programme: we speak to billionaire Bill Gates who says he will give most of his wealth away by 2045; and on the 80th anniversary of VE Day, we hear the memories of a woman who lived through the Blitz in London.
(Photo: Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost of the US, delivers the "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and to the world) message from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, 8th May 2025. Credit: Yara Nardi, REUTERS.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to News Hour from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:07.4 | Coming to you live from London, I'm Regina Vaidyanarvan. |
| 0:11.6 | After hours of waiting, the conclave had decided. |
| 0:16.4 | At around 6pm local time in Vatican City, large plumes of white smoke were seen from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. |
| 0:24.6 | A new Pope had been elected. |
| 0:27.0 | We'll be live with Mark Lohen, who's there for us in a second. |
| 0:30.5 | But let's hear Mark as he captured the elation of that special moment in St Peter's Square. |
| 0:37.5 | Unfortunately, I do not have a direct line of communication |
| 0:40.5 | to the Cardinals inside the Sistine Chapel. |
| 0:42.7 | Any cardinal, the brakes, we have smoke. |
| 0:50.0 | Well, there we are. |
| 0:53.9 | We have white smoke. |
| 0:59.6 | We have a Pope. |
| 1:08.1 | What a moment, Mark Lohen there, right in the heart of an historic moment |
| 1:13.9 | as the smoke emitted from the Sistine Chapel. |
| 1:17.9 | Well, an hour or so after that, the official announcement was made in Latin by the Proter Deacon Cardinal, Dominique Mamburte, |
| 1:26.6 | to tens of thousands of worshippers and others who gathered in the square. |
| 1:33.6 | I announced to you a great joy. |
| 1:35.9 | We have a pope, the most eminent and most reverent Lord, |
| 1:39.4 | Lord Robert Francis Prevost, |
| 1:41.4 | a cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, |
| 1:43.8 | who has taken the name Leo the 14. |
... |
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