The little known missionary from Chicago was a surprise option.
Cardinal Robert Prevost, 69, has taken the name Leo XIV.
Pope Leo appeared on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after white smoke had billowed from a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel. The smoke signifying the 133 cardinal electors had chosen a new leader for the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church.
Leo thanked Pope Francis in his speech and repeated his predecessor’s call for a Church that is engaged with the modern world. He shared he was “always looking for peace, charity and being close to people, especially those who are suffering”.
He had not been seen as a frontrunner. There was a brief moment of silence when his name was announced to the packed St. Peter’s Square, before people started to clap and cheer.
“Peace be with you all,” he told the cheering crowd, speaking in fluent Italian. He also spoke in Spanish during his brief address but did not say anything in English.
Unlike Francis, who spurned much of the trappings of the papacy from the day he was elected in 2013, Prevost wore a traditional red papal garment over his white cassock.
Helped build bridges
Born in Chicago in 1955 to parents of Spanish and Franco-Italian descent, Prevost served as an altar boy and was ordained as a priest in 1982. Although he moved to Peru three years later, he returned regularly to the US to serve as a pastor and a prior in his home city.
He has Peruvian nationality and is fondly remembered as a figure who worked with marginalised communities and helped build bridges.
He spent 10 years as a local parish pastor and as a teacher at a seminary in Trujillo in northwestern Peru.
Having spent most of his career as a missionary in Peru, Leo only became a Cardinal in 2023. The Peruvian president, Dina Boluarte, shared “His closeness to those most in need left an indelible mark on the hearts of Peru,”
Prevost has attracted interest from his peers because of his quiet style and support for Francis, especially his commitment to social justice issues.
Trump responds
While President Trump had shown recentleo xiv
interest in being the Pope himself in a bizarre social media post, he was one of the first to congratulate the newly elected leader of the Catholic Church.
President Donald Trump swiftly congratulated Prevost on becoming the first U.S. 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!”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was also among world leaders to offer her congratulations. “Italians will look to you as a guide and point of reference,” she said.
