Pope Leo XIV first US pontiff, spent most of his career in Peru
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VATICAN CITY: USA Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected the new pope and leader of the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday (May 8), and has taken the name Pope Leo XIV a senior cardinal announced to crowds in St. Peter's Square.
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.
He greeted crowds on Thursday evening, speaking in Italian, and Spanish, and offering a solemn blessing.
Pope Leo XIV, is the first pontiff from the US in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church.
The choice of Prevost was announced by French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti with the Latin words "Habemus Papam" (We have a pope) to tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square to hear the news.
Aged 69 and originally from Chicago, Prevost has spent most of his career as a missionary in Peru and became a cardinal only in 2023. He has given a few media interviews and rarely speaks in public.
Leo becomes the 267th Catholic pope after the death 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.
Francis enacted a range of reforms and allowed debate on divisive issues such as women's ordination and better inclusion of LGBT Catholics.
Ahead of the conclave, some cardinals called for continuity with Francis' vision of greater openness and reform, while others said they wanted to turn back the clock and embrace old traditions.
POPE LEO XIV FROM THE AUGUSTINIAN ORDER
Prevost, a 69 member of the Augustinian religious order, took the name Leo XIV. He appeared on the loggia of St. Peter's Square wearing the traditional red cape of the papacy — a cape that Pope Francis had eschewed on his election in 2013.
Prevost had been a leading candidate except for his nationality. There had long been a taboo against a US pope, given the geopolitical power already wielded by the United States in the secular sphere. But Prevost, a Chicago native, was seemingly eligible also because he’s a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as an archbishop.
Francis had his eye on Prevost and, in many ways, saw him as his heir apparent. He brought Prevost to the Vatican in 2023 to serve as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations from around the world, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church. As a result, Prevost had a prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals have.
Crowds in St Peter's Square erupted in cheers, priests made the sign of the cross and nuns wept as the crowd shouted “Viva il papa!” after the white smoke wafted into the late afternoon sky at 6:07 p.m. Waving flags from around the world, tens of thousands of people waited to learn who had won.
FORMER CONCLAVES NEEDED UP TO 14 BALLOTS
For much of the past century, the conclave has needed between three and 14 ballots to find a pope. John Paul I — the pope who reigned for 33 days in 1978 — was elected on the fourth ballot. His successor, John Paul II, needed eight. Francis was elected on the fifth in 2013.
The voting followed a strict choreography, dictated by church law. Each cardinal writes his choice on a piece of paper inscribed with the words “Eligo in summen pontificem” — “I elect as supreme pontiff.” They approach the altar one by one and say: “I call as my witness, Christ the Lord, who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who, before God, I think should be elected.”
The folded ballot is placed on a round plate and tipped into a silver and gold urn. Once cast, the ballots are opened one by one by three different “scrutineers,” cardinals selected at random who write down the names and read them aloud.
The scrutineers, whose work is checked by other cardinals called revisers, then add up the results of each round of balloting and write them on a separate sheet of paper, which is preserved in the papal archives.
As the scrutineer reads out each name, he pierces each ballot with a needle through the word “Eligo." All the ballots are then bound together with thread, and the bundle is put aside and burned in the chapel stove along with a chemical to produce the smoke.
Then on Thursday evening, came the anticipated white smoke, and a new leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV.
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