For months, the pontiff spoke by telephone almost every night with people sheltering in a Catholic church in the battered enclave, a ritual he tried to keep up in the hospital.
With more than 61 million Catholics and the second-highest number of cardinals after Italy, a guessing game is emerging on whether an American could be elected pope.
George Santos insists he has "accepted full responsibility" for a series of fraudulent schemes despite a "social media blitz" by federal prosecutors suggesting otherwise.