VATICAN CITY – Even before the official announcement, crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square were heard chanting “Viva il Papa” (“Long live the Pope”). Robert Prevost, 69, has been elected as the 267th Pope of the Catholic Church. He will take the name Leo XIV.
Pope Leo XIV is the first American to hold the position. However, he is also strongly associated with Latin America, having spent many years as a missionary and later becoming an archbishop in Peru. He holds Peruvian nationality and is remembered for his work with marginalised communities and his role in fostering unity within the local Church.
Born in Chicago in 1955, Prevost was ordained as a priest in 1982.
In his first address as Pope, Leo XIV spoke warmly of his predecessor, Francis. “We still hear in our ears the weak but always courageous voice of Pope Francis who blessed us,” he said. Addressing the cheering crowds, he added, “United and hand in hand with God, let us advance together.”
Pope Leo XIV told those gathered in St Peter’s Square that he is a member of the Augustinian Order. He moved to Peru as part of an Augustinian mission at the age of 30. Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru a year after becoming Pope himself.
Pope Leo XIV is well-known to cardinals globally, due to his prominent position as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. Given that 80% of the cardinals participating in the conclave were appointed by Pope Francis, the election of someone like Prevost is not entirely unexpected.
He is likely to be seen as a figure who will continue the reforms initiated by Pope Francis within the Catholic Church. While American, and therefore acutely aware of the divisions within the Church, his Latin American background provides a degree of continuity with the previous Pope, who was from Argentina.
During his time as Archbishop in Peru, his diocese denied allegations of any attempted cover-up of sexual abuse scandals within the Church, though such scandals have affected the Church in Peru as elsewhere.
Prior to the conclave, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni stated that cardinals had emphasised the need for a Pope with “a prophetic spirit capable of leading a Church that does not close in on itself but knows how to go out and bring light to a world marked by despair.”
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