Plumes of white smoke streaming from a Sistine Chapel chimney Thursday signaled that a new leader of the Roman Catholic Church had been selected.

History is made in Vatican City as white smoke rises above the Sistine Chapel, signaling the election of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as Pope Leo XIV — the first American pontiff in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

Two Albany Catholic Diocese leaders spoke to reporters shortly after Pope Leo XIV made his first appearance in Vatican City's St. Peter's Square in Italy.