Pope Leo joked what date is it?

LEO XIV had been Pope for barely two hours when he bent down to bless and sign a little girl's Bible and joked: "What date is it?

- BY ANDY LINES Chief Reporter in Vatican City and PAUL MARTIN

The touching scene came at the end of Robert Prevost's dramatic first day as head of the Catholic Church.

The first American Pope surprised onlookers by returning to the lodgings at the Vatican where he had been living for the last two months.

Archbishop John Kennedy, a close friend, said: "About 10.20pm he very calmly got out of the car and greeted a lot of people.

"One of the first to approach him was a little child, whose name is Michaela, she is the daughter of a person who works at the archives. She presented her Bible to the Pope asking him to bless it and to inscribe his name which he did with great care and I think he wrote her name and then he put a message for her.

"Then he asked, "What date is it? And everybody laughed.

"We told him it was the 8th of May and he then put the date on it as well.