Australian women Sandra and Anna had been in the Vatican crowd as well, waiting for the new pope to appear.
“I feel so blessed and I’m so excited about this new pope,” Sandra told Today.
“His speech was all about love, peace, inclusion, that the church should be about love, dialogue, us and everyone’s welcome.
“And that gave me a really good sense that he’s going to continue some of Pope Francis’s way of doing things.”
Anna, who has lived in Italy for years, said she and many locals had expected an Italian pope – but she was happy with how things turned out.
“I’m very, very happy, very, very happy,” she said.
“And I agree with Sandra, the fact that he greeted his people in Peru in Spanish is a sign that, you know, yes, he’s American, but he’s going to be very connected to people of the periphery, people of the outside world.”
