Vatican City: Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of the United States has been elected the 267th pope and becomes the new leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
The announcement was made Thursday evening after white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel chimney, signaling that the cardinal electors had reached consensus.
The Cardinal Protodeacon, standing before a packed St. Peter’s Square, declared the historic phrase “Habemus Papam!” and revealed that the American-born cardinal would take the name Pope Leo XIV.
Moments later, the new Pontiff appeared at the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, offering his first Urbi et Orbi blessing—“to the city and to the world”—to a sea of jubilant faithful waving flags, singing hymns, and cheering through tears.
Pope Leo XIV succeeds Pope Francis, who passed away earlier this year, and becomes the first American-born Pope in the Church’s over 2,000-year history.
Born in Chicago, Cardinal Prevost spent much of his pastoral and missionary career in Latin America, particularly Peru, before being appointed Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops by Pope Francis.
Known for his pastoral warmth, intellectual depth, and administrative steadiness, Leo XIV is widely regarded as a bridge between the global North and South.
Prevost’s choice of the name Leo evokes echoes of Pope Leo XIII, the social reformer of the late 19th century, and Pope Leo I, the great 5th-century theologian and defender of Rome.
Vatican observers interpret the name as a signal of moral clarity and a desire to reassert the Church’s role as a firm voice in global affairs.
The new Pontiff takes the helm of the Roman Catholic Church at a critical juncture, grappling with internal reform, waning vocations, global secularism, and the wounds of clerical abuse scandals.
Pope Leo XIV’s first papal Mass is expected in the coming days
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