The first American pope, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, 69, was elected on Thursday to succeed Pope Francis as the head of the Catholic Church, according to multiple media reports. Thousands of people gathered and applauded in St. Peter’s Square, as the newly-minted Pope Leo XIV ascended to the Vatican balcony to give his opening remarks.
Wearing the traditional red cape of the papacy and speaking to the crowd in Italian and Spanish, the Chicago-born missionary said “Peace be upon you,” and proceeded to repeat a blessing uttered by his predecessor: “God loves us, God loves everyone, and evil will not prevail. We are in the hands of God.” Pope Leo then preached a message heavy with themes of peace and unity, calling on Catholics to seek “a disarmed peace and a disarming peace.”
Just an hour and a half earlier, white smoke emerged from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, signalling to the faithful that the papal conclave, a gathering of the 135 College of Cardinals for the first time in 12 years, had elected a new leader for the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
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The conclave had voted inconclusively three times on Wednesday, with plumes of black smoke wafting from the chimney indicating a lack of result. The new pontiff is selected when a candidate gets a two-thirds-plus-one majority vote by the eligible cardinal electors in a secretive voting process.
Leo XIV is a leader with global experience, having spent much of his career in South America, and holding dual citizenship in the US and Peru, where he served as a bishop. He was brought to the Vatican in 2023 by the former pope, Francis, to serve an important role as the head of the office that vets bishop nominations from around the world.
Experts say Pope Leo XIV is likely to adopt a moderate stance between furthering Francis’s progressive and inclusive reforms while also embracing Catholic traditions.
