The new pope said he would be guided by a key document that his predecessor wrote listing the church’s priorities, including a “loving care for the least and the rejected.”

Pope Leo XIV, the first person from the United States to lead the Catholic Church, is taking on a financial headache in his new position. White smoke billowed from the Vatican at about 6 p.m. on Thursday as the papal conclave made its decision about who should become the leader of the Catholic Church.