Newly elected Pope Leone XIV appears at the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Screenshot from The Associated Press YouTube channel)
Cardinal Robert Prevost—an American—is the 267th Pope!
Prevost, 69, has taken the name Leo XIV. He is the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church.
White smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney Thursday at 6:07 p.m. local time, signaling that a pope was chosen.
The 133 cardinals from 71 different nations chose Prevost on the fourth ballot of the conclave—one round earlier than Pope Francis, who was chosen in 2013.
Prevost addressed the crowd from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. He said he was an Augustinian priest, but a Christian above all, and a bishop, “so we can all walk together.”
He spoke in Italian and then switched to Spanish, recalling his many years spent as a missionary and then archbishop of Chiclayo, Peru.
Pope Francis brought Prevost, who was born in Chicago, to the Vatican in 2023 to serve as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations from around the world—one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church.
Prevost has presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope. In early 2025, Francis again showed his esteem by appointing Prevost to the most senior rank of cardinals.
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