On the evening of 8 May, a little after 6pm local time in Rome, white smoke billowed from the chimney on Sistine Chapel in Rome, signalling to the world that a new Pope had been elected to lead the Catholic Church. Huge cheers and chants of “viva il papa”, “long live the pope” in Italian, rose from the 40,000-odd crowd that had gathered in front of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Since early afternoon crowds have been converging on St. Peters’ Square in the hope of experiencing the moment the Church would have a new leader. Over an hour after the white smoke first emerged, cardinals gathered on the left and right side of the balcony, from where the new pope was to address the crowd in St Peter’s Square below. Shortly afterwards, the 69-year-old American cardinal Robert Francis Prevost emerged on the balcony as Pope Leo XIV, the 267th pontiff of the 1.4 billion strong Catholic Church.
Pope Leo is the first American pontiff in the Church’s history, and in his first address to the cheering crowd gathered below, Pope Leo, speaking in fluent Italian stated: “Peace be with all of you. Brothers and sisters dearest, this is the first greeting of Christ resurrected. I would like to offer a greeting of peace to reach your families, all of you, wherever you are. May peace be with you.” He also called for the Church to “build bridges”, and paid tribute to the late Pope Francis.
Media reports indicate that ahead of the cardinals conclave called to elect a new pope, there was general agreement that the new pontiff would need to be someone who would take forward the late Pope Francis’s legacy of reaching out to those on the margins, but also bring along with him a wide spectrum of those within the Church, including those Pope Francis was sometimes at loggerheads with.
Going into conclave, Cardinal Prevost was thought of by observers as a candidate who could fulfil that role—someone who could be a bridge between different worlds. The fact the conclave came to a decision in just four rounds of voting to pick a new pope is a clear sign of the unity of the Church,” said Italian Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi.
Pope Leo is a member of the Augustinian religious order of Christianity that follows the rule of Saint Augustine, and led the order as its prior general for more than a decade. In his first remarks, the new pontiff quoted Saint Augustine’s famous phrase: “For you, I am a bishop; with you, I am a Christian.” meaning that everyone in the church hierarchy, from leaders to everyday members, walk together.
Late Pope Francis is said to have held the new pope in high respect and saw him as a capable leader. Reflecting this assessment, Pope Francis appointed the then Cardinal Prevost to be the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops at the Vatican,, which is responsible for assessing bishop candidates and making recommendations for new appointments. He also served as the president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
The new pontiff is considered to be a reformer and is expected to continue with the policies initiated by his predecessor, including reforms of the church, fostering a more inclusive global church, and a deep focus on alleviating poverty and helping marginalized people. He is also expected to be more progressive on social issues like migration and poverty, but fall more in line with moderates on moral issues of Catholic doctrine.
Known for his global experience, Chicago-born Cardinal Prevost spent much of his ecumenical career working as a missionary in Peru before being made an archbishop there. Speaking excellent Spanish and Italian, in addition to his native English, Cardinal Prevost started his sojourn in Peru, with a decade-long stint in the northwestern coastal city of Trujillo. He was later appointed bishop of Chiclayo, a city to the north of Trujillo, where he served from 2014 to 2023.
Cardinal Prevost once said in an interview that his time in Peru was the life experience that shaped him the most. He is believed to hold both an American and Peruvian passport. According to Peru’s National Migration Registry, the American-born pontiff obtained Peruvian citizenship in August 2015. For her part, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte called the new Pope’s election a “historic moment for Peru and the world.”
The pope’s election has prompted an outpouring of congratulations from world leaders, who expressed eagerness to work with the pontiff on global issues. US President Donald Trump called the historic selection a great honor for the country. In an indication of how he considers his new role, Pope Leo said in an interview with Vatican News shortly after he moved into his leadership role, “I still consider myself a missionary. My vocation, like that of every Christian, is to be a missionary, to proclaim the Gospel wherever one is.”
