The Catholic Church has elected Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago as the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Prevost, 69, chose the name Pope Leo XIV, becoming the first American-born pontiff in the Church’s 2,000-year history.
The announcement came Thursday evening after white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel, signaling a successful vote on the second day of the conclave. Prevost appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, addressing the crowd in both Italian and Spanish, but notably not in English. The new pope emphasized a Church that “builds bridges” and a missionary church open to all. “Evil will not prevail; we are in the hands of God,” he told the cheering crowd.
Prevost, who spent more than four decades as a missionary and bishop in Peru, was made a cardinal in 2023 and led the Vatican office responsible for appointing bishops. The new pope’s name invoked the legacy of Pope Leo XIII, who led the Church into the modern social era in the late 1800s and is remembered for defending the rights of workers.
