On Thursday, Cardinal Robert Prevost was unexpectedly elected as the next head of the Catholic Church, assuming the name Leo XIV and becoming the first US pope.
About 70 minutes after white smoke billowed from a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, indicating that the 133 cardinal electors had selected a new head for the Catholic Church, which has 1.4 billion members, Pope Leo emerged on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.
In front of tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square to hear the announcement, French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti proclaimed the selection of Prevost with the Latin phrase “Habemus Papam” (We have a pope).
Prevost, a 69-year-old Chicago native, has served as a missionary in Peru for most of his career and was just made a cardinal in 2023. He rarely speaks in public and hasn’t done many interviews with the media.
Pope Francis, the first Latin American pope who headed the Church for 12 years and actively worked to modernise the staid institution, passed down last month, making Leo the 267th Catholic pope. Before the conclave, some cardinals agreed to Francis’s goal of more transparency and change, while others declared their desire to revert to earlier customs.
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