Pope who? Election of first US pontiff stuns St Peter's crowd

When Cardinal Dominique Mambertì appeared on the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica and uttered the fateful Latin phrase "Habemus Papam" (We have a pope), more than a hundred thousand people cheered.

When he read out the new pope's name in Latin - Robertum Franciscum Prevost (Robert Francis Prevost) - the crowd fell silent.

Many had no clue that the first US pope in the history of the 2000-year Church had just been elected.

• Robert Prevost becomes first American pope

In some cases, it was reporters who told people in the crowd who the new pope was.

"I had absolutely no idea who he was. I was hoping for an African pope so more parts of the world would be represented," said Veronica Genovese, a Roman.

"I came here from work. I was expecting an Italian. I don't know who he is," said Federica Bonomi, another Rome resident.

The initial reaction was similar to when Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland was elected the first non-Italian pope in 455 years in 1978.

Because of the difficulty even the cardinal who announced the name had in pronouncing Polish many in the crowd 47 years ago thought an African had been elected.

The crowd on Thursday quickly warmed to the new pope when he appeared on the balcony. He delivered his first address as pontiff in fluent Italian and Spanish, mentioning his former diocese of Chiclayo, Peru. He did not say anything in English or mention the country of his birth.

Still, Americans in the crowd of more than 100,000 were ecstatic.

"I’m just thrilled. I hope this can bring to America a more loving community. I think there's a lot of hate in America, there's a lot of racism. I have experienced it. It's very sad,” said Lailah Brown, 28, an African American from Seattle, who was on a religious pilgrimage with her sister.

Brown said she hoped the new pope could encourage more Americans to follow Jesus' example.

"I hope America does not embarrass the pope. America does very embarrassing things that go against the Bible and I'm just hoping that we can start living more biblically and love others not based on who they love or their skin colour but because they are our neighbours,” she said.

An American woman from Long Island in New York, who gave only her first name, Geena, said she hoped the new pope would help bring unity to the United States and the world.

Among the most pleasantly shocked Americans in the square were two foreign exchange students in Italy - Mackenzie Coy, 20, and Ella Buchanan, 19. They and the pope share the same hometown.

"Some very lovely young lady came up to us to shake our hands and told us he was from America. ‘Il papa è Americano!' (the pope is American) she told us,” Coy said.

"Some said he was from Canada, and some said he was from Peru," she said, mentioning the South American country where Prevost spent nearly two decades.

"We were just trying to put the pieces together and we started hearing people say ‘Chicago, Chicago’ and we were so thrilled."