In a historic moment for the Catholic Church, Cardinal Robert Prevost, a U.S.-born missionary and veteran of decades of ministry in Peru, has been elected the next pope, becoming the first American to hold the office in the Church’s 2,000-year history. The 69-year-old cardinal will be known as Pope Leo XIV.
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His election follows the death of Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday in April.
White smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel chimney on Thursday, signaling to the world that a new pontiff had been chosen following the traditional, highly secretive papal conclave.
Prevost was a surprise to some observers but a well-positioned figure within the Vatican hierarchy. In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him to head the Dicastery for Bishops, the influential Vatican office responsible for selecting bishops around the world—a role that gave him significant visibility and sway within the Church. His deep pastoral roots in Latin America, combined with his American upbringing and administrative authority in Rome, made him a unifying figure across continents.
The conclave that selected Prevost was comprised of 135 cardinal electors who gathered behind closed doors, cut off from all outside communication. While the voting process is designed to be confidential, speculation before the vote had centered on a handful of high-profile figures considered “papabile,” according to the Associated Press.
Among them were Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s top diplomat who oversaw the conclave; Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, known as the “Asian Francis” for his pastoral charisma; Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of the Congo, a conservative voice in the Church; and Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, a potential return to an Italian papacy.
Pope Leo XIV now assumes leadership of the world’s more than 1.3 billion Catholics. His election resonates deeply in regions like the United States and the Caribbean, where Catholicism remains a pillar of faith and identity for millions.
In his first words as pope, Leo XIV said to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square in Rome: “Peace be with you all.”
Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to the late Pope Francis, urging the crowd to remember his predecessor’s legacy.
“Let us keep in our ears the weak voice of Pope Francis that blesses Rome. The Pope, who blessed Rome, gave his blessing to the entire world that morning of Easter. Allow me to follow up on that blessing. God loves us. God loves everyone. Evil will not prevail,” he said.
