Pope Leo XIV will celebrate mass Friday, the day after becoming the first US head of the Catholic Church, with the world watching for signs of what kind of pope he will be.

Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost became on Thursday the 267th pope, spiritual leader to the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, after a secret conclave by his fellow cardinals in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel.

At 11:00 am (0900 GMT) Friday, the 69-year-old sometimes referred to in Rome as the "Latin Yankee" for his time as a missionary in Peru, will return to the chapel to celebrate a private mass with cardinals that will be broadcast by the Vatican, delivering his much-anticipated first homily as pope.

Tens of thousands of well-wishers cheered Leo as he appeared on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica on Thursday evening -- with many having no idea who the modest man before them was.

The American, who spent two decades in Peru and was only made a cardinal in 2023, had been on many Vatican watchers' lists of potential popes, although he is far from being a globally recognised........

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