The delight of being a tourist in Rome during the conclave

I’M ORIGINALLY from Chicago, and when I travel, that fact has historically prompted responses such as “oh, like Michael Jordan?” or “like Barack Obama?” But two weeks ago when I was in Rome, I got a new one. “Chicago! Like our new pope,” a bartender said to me, stunned that for the first time an American – Robert Francis Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV – had become the head of the Catholic Church.

I was visiting the Eternal City ahead of a voyage on the new La Dolce Vita Orient Express, an ultra-luxury train (more on that soon), but my trip had coincided with the start of the conclave, the process by which the Catholic Church’s cardinals elect a new pope. Luckily, this was my fifth trip to Rome, so I wasn’t in a rush to see all the sights; instead I could just take in the city during such a historic moment.

Rome’s Fiumicino Airport was packed with tourists, a mix of people who had longstanding plans to visit the city and those keen to be in Vatican City when a new pope was announced, a major event for the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

There were, of course, a few grumbles about the crowds and the restrictions on tourism. I did overhear a family upset that they couldn’t visit the Sistine Chapel on their once-in-a-lifetime trip. I can understand disappointment, but it was a real read-the-room-type moment – sorry, the Sistine Chapel is busy making history!

Still, the atmosphere in the city was electric, even if I wasn’t one of the masses waiting for a glimpse of white smoke from a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, the traditional sign that a new pope has received the necessary two-thirds majority (black smoke means a vote was taken, but no single candidate prevailed).

At drinks on May 7 at a rooftop bar, I was eager to see if my vantage afforded me a view of the area around St Peter’s. I couldn’t quite see the smoke, but the glimpse of the basilica itself was exciting to me, knowing that there was likely voting going on at the time. People were throwing around names of cardinals like Pizzaballa or Parolin as if it was the NBA (National Basketball Association) draft, eagerly anticipating who the next pope would be.

On the street, I stopped to speak with a priest from France who had come to Rome for a pilgrimage, but was pleased to be in town during such a historic moment. “People keep asking me about the pope, but I am just a priest,” he said with a wry smile. “It is, of course, in God’s hands.”

The most exciting moment for me came when the alert popped up on my phone that a pope had been chosen. I was in a room full of Italians and could hear about 20 different incredulous voices exclaim “Americano?” as the news travelled around the room.

Conclave or no concave, it was business as usual for many Romans. I asked a taxi driver taking me back to the airport how he felt about the crowds descending on the city. “It’s been so busy this year. There was the funeral for Pope Francis. Then, of course, it’s the Jubilee year,” he said, referring to a major celebration the Catholic Church puts on every 25 years, and one of the reasons Rome made our list of “Where to Go in 2025”.

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First US pope as Robert Francis Prevost becomes Leo XIV

“There is always a reason to come here,” he added. BLOOMBERG