Sistine

As sports turf goes, this is his Sistine Chapel.

It has been a busy week for the pontiff, who held his first Mass as Pope in the Sistine chapel on Friday before speaking to cardinals on Saturday.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, was one of 133 cardinals who were shut into the Vatican's Sistine Chapel and later elected Pope Leo XIV on Thursday.

Conclaves have taken place in the Sistine Chapel since the 15th Century and cardinals must have no communication with the outside world until a new Pope is elected.

Then, the fact that the homily he delivered to cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on Friday morning was scripted – rather than improvised – also sent a signal that "Leo will be more closely aligned to tradition than Francis was," said Austen Ivereigh, a Catholic writer and commentator.