The Dalai Lama has become one of the world’s most recognizable figures while leading a Tibetan diaspora through their struggle for autonomy and opposition of China’s control of Tibet. He has not named a successor, but he says they will be born in the “free world” — outside China.

The Dalai Lama says he'll have a successor, after all, ending years of speculation that he might be the last person to hold the role and meaning he'd be reincarnated.

The statement puts to rest speculation that the Dalai Lama may be the last of Tibet's spiritual leaders, ending a line that stretches back centuries.