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VATICAN CITY (REUTERS) – American Cardinal and Chicago native Robert Prevost has been named the next pope and will take the name Pope Leo XIV.
Pope Leo appeared on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica around 70 minutes after white smoke billowed from a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, signifying the 133 cardinal electors had chosen a new leader for the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church.
“Peace be with you all,” the new pope told the cheering crowd.
Cardinal Robert Prevost, 69, is an American who has spent much of his career as a missionary in Peru and is a relative unknown on the global stage. Made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023, he has given few media interviews and rarely speaks in public. He has attracted interest from his peers because of his quiet style and support for Francis’ 12-year papacy, especially his commitment to social justice issues.
President Trump congratulated Prevost in a post on Truth Social, saying, “Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope. It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!”
Leo becomes the 267th Catholic pope after the death last month of Pope Francis, who was the first Latin American pope and had led the Church for 12 years and widely sought to open the staid institution up to the modern world.
Pope Francis brought him to Rome in 2023 to head the Vatican office in charge of choosing which priests should serve as Catholic bishops across the globe, meaning he has had a hand in selecting many of the world’s bishops.
(Reporting by Kylie Maclellan, Farouq Suleiman, Alison Williams, Christina Anagnostopoulos, Heather Timmons, and Vanessa Balintec)
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