The Vatican press corps is watching Leo XIV very closely for clues to the kind of pope he plans to be, writes William Crawley.

The late Pope Francis, who died on April 21, made surprise visits to Catholic sites near Rome quite frequently. He asked to be buried at St. Mary Major in a simple tomb, decorated only with an inscription of the word “Franciscus”, his name in Latin.

Leo XIV prayed at the tomb of Pope Francis on Saturday, just two days after being elected new head of the Catholic Church and hours after vowing to humbly follow in his predecessor’s footsteps. Vatican News published a photo of the white-robed pope kneeling before Francis’s simple marble tomb at the basilica in central Rome,