The new pope has been revealed as Robert Prevost of the US, the first American pontiff in history. He’ll be known as Pope Leo XIV. This comes after white smoke billowed above the Sistine Chapel, the signal that cardinals had selected a new pontiff on the second day of the conclave.
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of the United States is the 267th pope and will soon step onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica as the new leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
Prevost, age 69, from Chicago, Illinois, is a leader with global experience, he spent much of his career as a missionary in South America and served as Bishop in Peru. He most recently led a powerful Vatican office for Bishop appointments. He is expected to build on Pope Francis’ reforms.
There were 133 voting cardinals, who had all been sequestered inside the Vatican during the conclave. Any one of them needed two-thirds of the vote to become the next pope. Take a look at how the voting process works.
Prevost, 69, from Chicago, Illinois, is the first ever pope from the United States. He will be known as Leo XIV.
A leader with global experience, he spent much of his career as a missionary in South America and most recently led a powerful Vatican office for bishop appointments. He is expected to build on Pope Francis’ reforms.
He worked for a decade in Trujillo, Peru, and was later appointed bishop of Chiclayo, another Peruvian city, where he served from 2014 to 2023.
In an interview with Vatican News shortly after he became the leader of the Dicastery for Bishops, Prevost said: “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.”
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