Apple iPhones, iPads greet Pope Francis

11 years ago

Apple iPhones and, more conspicuously, Apple iPads captured the first address of the new pope, Pope Francis, as he appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica more than an hour after white smoke was released from the Sistine Chapel chimney at 2:05pm EDT (7:05pm CET) to signal that a new pope had been selected.

Along with hundreds of iPhones, multiple iPads and iPad minis were held up by members of the huge crowd in order to capture the proceedings in Vatican City.

“Argentine Jorge Bergoglio was elected pope Wednesday and chose the papal name Francis, becoming first pontiff from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium,” Nicole Winfield reports for The Associated Press. “A stunned-looking Bergoglio shyly waved to the crowd of tens of thousands of people who gathered in St. Peter’s Square, marveling that the cardinals had had to look to “the end of the earth” to find a bishop of Rome.”

“After announcing `’Habemus Papum’ – ‘We have a pope!’ – a cardinal standing on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday revealed the identity of the new pontiff, using his Latin nam,” Winfield reports. “The 76-year-old archbishop of Buenos Aires has spent nearly his entire career at home in Argentina, overseeing churches and shoe-leather priests.”

Apple iPhones and iPad greet Pope Francis

Winfield reports, “Tens of thousands of people who braved cold rain to watch the smokestack atop the Sistine Chapel jumped in joy when white smoke poured out a few minutes past 7 p.m., many shouting ‘Habemus Papam!’ as the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica and churches across Rome pealed. They played the introduction to the Vatican and Italian anthems and the crowd, which numbered at least 50,000, joined in, waving flags from countries around the world.”

Read more in the full article here.