In his first morning as supreme pontiff and leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, Pope Francis visited the Roman basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary, slipping in a side entrance for a few moments of private prayer.

The stop at the fifth-century Basilica of St. Mary Major, was not a surprise. Minutes after his election, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York recalled, Francis asked his fellow cardinals if they would be willing to delay a celebratory Mass at the Sistine Chapel on Thursday so that he could first make a brief foray to “visit the icon of the holy mother.”

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