Catholics gather to catch glimpse of pope

POPE Leo XIV was to greet the crowd from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica yesterday, leading a prayer to the Virgin Mary in his second official public appearance since becoming the leader of the Catholic Church.

- 

The noon prayer was expected to draw thousands of people anxious for a closer look at the modest pontiff, born Robert Francis Prevost, who before becoming the first pope from the US spent much of his life as a missionary in Peru.

Cardinals chose Leo as the 267th pope at a secret conclave on Thursday, praying he could heal rifts within the Church, renew faith among the world's 1.4 billion Catholics and address a host of modern-day challenges weighing on the more than 2000-year-old institution.

Addressing cardinals at the weekend, the 69-year-old Leo called himself a "humble servant of God... and nothing more than this", and an "unworthy successor" to St Peter, according to a transcript released by the Vatican.