Robert Francis Prevost has been named as the first American to serve as the Pope.
It’s taken four sessions of voting and just over 24 hours for the 133 cardinal electors to choose the successor of Francis, who died on April 21st.
The new pope is Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost and, already, like its predecessor, is part of history since he is the first Pope from the United States of America.
He is also the fourth non-Italian in a row after the Pole John Paul II (1978-2005), the German Benedict XVI (2005-2013) and the Argentine Francois (2013-2025).
The one who has been, since 2023 prefect of the powerful Dicastery of Bishops, charged with appointing bishops from all over the world, chose as his name Leo XIV.
Here’s what’you need to know about it.
A man from the outside
Born on September 14, 1955 in Chicago (so he 69 Years), Robert Francis Prevost studied at the minor seminary of the order of Saint-Augustin, in which he entered in 1977.
Graduated in theology, he also holds a degree in mathematics.
Ordained priest in 1982 two years later, he was sent as a missionary to Peru, a country where he remained for two decades in total.
He returned to Chicago in 1999 as provincial superior of the Midwest Augustinians, then prior general in 2001.
In 2014, pope Francis then appointed him the apostolic administrator of the diocese of Chiclayo in northern Peru.
A moderate, like Francis
The cardinals opted for the continuity, even if this American should put more forms than his predecessor, who had jostled the Holy See with his exercise of personal power, even brittle, crumpling the feathers of the Vatican hierarchy.
Close collaborator of Francis, the new Leo XIV is reputed discreet and reserved. Within the Curia, the Vatican government, he is seen as a moderate capable of reconciling divergent views.
The Vaticanists had made it their favorite among the American cardinals ahead of the’election, on the basis of his experience on the ground, his global vision and his ability to navigate within the Vatican bureaucracy.
His deep knowledge of canon law and also rendered reassuring in the eyes of the conservative cardinals who aspire to a greater attention to theology.
After the death of Francis, he had claimed that’there were « still many to do » within the’Church.
“We can’t stop, we can’t go back. We must see what the Holy Spirit wants for the Church of today and tomorrow, because the world of today, in which the Church lives, is not the same as the world of ten or twenty years ago.”
“The message is always the same [..] but the way to’reach people of’today, young people, poor, politicians, is different”, he had estimated.
A man close to the faithful like Francis?.
“May peace be with you all!”, have been the first words of the new pontiff, in an Italian tinted with American accent.
“Thanks to Pope Francis”, he also said, thanking his fellow cardinals for electing’.
Faithful and tourists massed in St. Peter’s Square greeted with a thunderous applause his appearance on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, about an hour and a half after the white smoke finally came out of the thin chimney installed on the roof of the Sistine Chapel.
The pope was visibly moved and struggled to leave the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, perhaps a sign that the latter will also be close to the faithful, as Francis was.
What happens next?
Pope Leo XIV has just delivered his speech to the tens of thousands of people listening to him in St Peter’s Square.
A ceremonial mass to install the new Pope is expected to take place around one week from now.
This will happen in either St Peter’s Square or basilica, with cardinals, bishops and other international dignitaries present.
These days, there is less pomp and pageantry than before, for example, Pope Paul VI was the last to wear the triregnum, during his installation in 1963.
What will the Pope’s first act be?
His first act has been choosing his name – Pope Leo XIV.
This is to signify that him becoming Pope is akin to a second birth.
Going forward, his responsibilities will include choosing his residence, addressing broader issues within the Church itself.
This includes declining Church attendance and the ongoing battle with the sex abuse crisis gripping the institution.
What is the reaction to the new Pope?
World leaders have started coming out to congratulate Robert Francis Prevost on becoming the new Pope including President Donald Trump
He wrote on his Truth social platform: ‘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!’
