The 133 Roman Catholic cardinals have elected US Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the new pope and is now known as Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope in history.
After the announcement by Vatican, the new pope then appeared at St. Peter’s Basilica’s balcony and addressed the crowd waiting at the Vatican City for the announcement.
“Peace be with all of you,” said the 69-year-old new pope, calling for the light of Christ to serve as the bridge to God’s love, according to various media reports.
Quoting St. Augustine’s words, he stressed, “For you I am a bishop, but with you I am a Christian.”
Born in Chicago in 1955, Pope Leo XIV was Bishop of Chiclayo, in Peru, from 2015 to 2023, the same year Pope Francis made him a cardinal. He was Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Monica from 2023 to 2025.
He is of French and Italian descent from his father’s side and of Spanish descent on his mother’s side.
He is the first Augustinian pope and the second pope from the Americas after his predecessor – but the first from Northern America.
Pope Leo XIV succeeded Pope Francis as the head of the Roman Catholic Church, which has 1.4 billion members across the globe, making it the world’s largest Christian church.
Pope Francis’ papacy began on 13 March 2013 and ended when he died at the age of 88 on 21 April 2025, Easter Monday.
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires to a family of Italian background, the late Argentinian pontiff was the first pope to be a Jesuit, first Latin American, first coming from the Southern Hemisphere, as well as the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III, according to Wikipedia. (Gilbert Humphrey)
Photo: Vatican News
COMMENTS