Pope Leo XIV Makes History As First U.S. Pope Chosen To Lead Catholic Church

The 133 cardinals who assembled in the Vatican for the top-secret conclave have chosen the Roman Catholic Church’s first U.S.-born pope: Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost.

Prevost, who will now go by his selected papal name of Pope Leo XIV, succeeds the late Pope Francis, who died at age 88 last month.

Thousands filled the streets of Vatican City and cheered as Pope Leo XIV, a 69-year-old native of Chicago and polyglot with dual nationalities, stepped out on the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square to cheers while wearing red and white.

Cardinal Robert Prevost, who has chosen the name Pope Leo XIV, is seen Thursday at the Vatican after becoming the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.

via Associated Press

His appearance came roughly an hour after plumes of white smoke streamed from a Sistine Chapel chimney Thursday, signaling that a new leader of the Roman Catholic Church ― a faith with more than 1 billion followers ― had been selected by a two-thirds majority vote of the cardinals, the church’s most senior clergy under the pope.

“Peace be with you,” he said in his first speech as pope, which he gave in Italian, Spanish and Latin, but not English.

“Dear brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the Risen Christ, the good shepherd who gave his life for the flock of God. I too would like this greeting of peace to enter your hearts to reach your families to all people everywhere to all the earth: peace be with you,” he said, according to The Associated Press.

Pope Leo XIV is originally from Chicago’s South Side, according to the Chicago Sun Times, and earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Villanova University in Pennsylvania in 1977 before receiving his theology degree from the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago in 1982.

This photograph shows white smoke rising from the chinmey of the Sistine Chapel, signaling that cardinals elected a new pope during their conclave in the Vatican on May 8, 2025.

ANDREAS SOLARO via Getty Images

After completing his studies in canon law in Rome, he served two decades in Peru, where he worked as a missionary, parish priest, teacher and became the archbishop of Chiclayo, in the country’s northwest. He was also appointed the prior general, or leader, of the Order of St. Augustine in 2001 after joining the religious order in 1977.

He became a naturalized Peruvian citizen in 2015 and was brought to the Vatican in 2023 by the former pope, Francis, where he has served as the head of the office that vets bishop nominations.

The 267th pontiff was selected after several rounds of voting over two days. In 2013, it took five rounds of voting in under two days for the cardinals to choose Francis. The fastest conclave lasted only 10 hours in 1503, while the longest lasted nearly three years in 1268.

People react and wave Vatican flags as white smoke signals cardinals elected a new pope during their conclave in the Vatican on May 8, 2025.

GABRIEL BOUYS via Getty Images

The conclave initiated Wednesday morning local time, beginning with mass, prayers and oath-taking before the first vote that evening. Italian media reported that the Vatican deactivated all cell phone signals and activated signal jammers in the area to prevent any surveillance of the proceedings.

Any of the cardinals could have been named the next pope ― and technically, church rules state that any Catholic male is eligible for the role ― but only a handful of cardinals are viewed as the top contenders. And though there are 252 members of the College of Cardinals, only those under 80 are eligible electors. Among the 133 who voted, the Argentine-born Francis had appointed 108 of them ― lending him sizable posthumous influence on who’s been chosen as his successor.

This conclave has been the most geographically diverse one in history, with cardinals hailing from 71 countries, including 17 from Africa, 23 from Asia, 37 from the Americas and 4 from Oceania. The remaining 52 are from Europe, the birthplace of every pope except Francis for the past 1,300 years.