Pope Leo XIV; USA Cardinal Robert Prevost elected new pope
USA Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected the new pope and leader of the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday and has taken the name Pope Leo XIV
USA Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected the new pope and leader of the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday and has taken the name Pope Leo XIV a senior cardinal announced to crowds in St. Peter’s Square.
Prevost, 69, from Chicago, Illinois, is the first ever pope from the United States. He will be known as Leo XIV.
The late Pope Francis brought Prevost, 69, 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 enjoyed a prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals had.
One strike against him, however, was his nationality, and there has 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, is also a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as an archbishop.
Prevost was also twice elected prior general, or top leader, of the Augustinian religious order, the 13th century order founded by St. Augustine.
Francis clearly had an eye on him for years, moving him from the Augustinian leadership back to Peru in 2014 to serve as the administrator and later archbishop of Chiclayo.
He remained in that position, acquiring Peruvian citizenship in 2015, until Francis brought him to Rome in 2023 to assume the presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
In that job he would have kept in regular contact with the Catholic hierarchy in the part of the world that counts still counts the most Catholics.
Ever since he arrived in Rome, Prevost kept a low public profile – though he was well known to the men who count.
Significantly, he presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope.
In early 2025, Francis again showed his esteem by appointing Prevost to the most senior rank of cardinals, suggesting he would at least be Francis’ choice in an any future conclave.
The Rev. Fidel Purisaca Vigil, the communications director for Prevost’s old diocese in Chiclayo, remembered the cardinal rising each day and having breakfast with his fellow priests after saying his prayers.
“No matter how many problems he has, he maintains good humor and joy,” Purisaca said in an email.
Some 133 cardinals have been voting since Wednesday to elect Pope Francis’s successor.
Have the cardinals, all aged below 80, elected an African, an Asian or even an American pope, or might they favour one of the old hands of the Vatican administration?
The new pope will replace the Pope Francis who died on April 21, 2025 at the age of 88.
The new Holy Father will be the 267th pontiff of the Catholic church .
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.28 to 1.41 billion baptised Catholics worldwide as of 2024.
Earlier on Thursday, there was black smoke billowing from the chapel’s chimney signaling no clear winner had emerged from the vote.
Tens of thousands of faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square, watching intently as history unfolded behind the chapel’s locked doors.
U.S. offers Ksh1.3B reward for information on Lamu Manda Bay airfield terror attack suspects
Ferdinand Waititu suffers major setback after latest court ruling
Salasya hits out at Sifuna after ‘mocking’ him during TV interview
Kenya Met reveals cause of earth tremors reported in parts of Nairobi
Politician Philip Aroko speaks after being linked to MP Charles Were’s murder
Mombasa Imam in court for sodomizing 14-year-old schoolboy inside a mosque
The cardinals, sworn to secrecy and cut off from the outside world, vote up to four times a day—twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon—until one candidate receives the required two-thirds majority, or at least 89 votes, to be declared the 267th pope.
The first signal from the Sistine Chapel was expected around 7pm on Wednesday, but the black smoke did not appear until two hours later.
After spending the night sequestered at the Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse, the cardinals had an early breakfast and held a Mass before taking their oath.
They then returned to the Sistine Chapel for the second day of the secret ballot.
During the election process, smoke signals traditionally occur around midday and early evening, typically around 7pm.
The previous two conclaves—in 2005 and 2013—resulted in the elections of Benedict XVI and Francis, respectively, and each lasted two days.
Some papal elections in the 20th century took up to five days, while the longest conclave in history, in the 13th century, lasted two years and nine months.
Bitange Ndemo appointed University of Nairobi Vice-Chancellor
Irungu Kang’ata responds to Ethiopian air crash compensation scandal
Mudavadi holds meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (Details)
EACC storms offices of senior NYS officials over Ksh2 billion embezzlement
Government urges civil societies to support GMO adoption
Follow us
