Cardinal Robert Prevost Becomes 1st American Pope

Following the white smoke billowed above the Sistine Chapel, signaling that cardinals had selected a new pontiff. The Vatican on Thursday revealed the new Pope as Robert Prevost of the United States (US), the first American pontiff in history.

New Telegraph reports that he will be known as Pope Leo XIV. In his first words as pope, Leo XIV said to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square: “Peace be with you all.”

“This is the first greetings of the resurrected Christ, the good shepherd who has given up his life for God,” he said, explaining the choice of his greeting. “And I should also like this greeting of peace to enter our hearts and our families.”

Leo XIV looked visibly emotional as he waved to the adoring crowd in the square below the balcony.

Prevost, age 69, from Chicago, Illinois, is a leader with global experience. He spent much of his career as a missionary in South America and served as bishop in Peru.

He most recently led a powerful Vatican office for bishop appointments. He is expected to build on Pope Francis’ reforms.

He worked for a decade in Trujillo, Peru, and was later appointed bishop of Chiclayo, another Peruvian city, where he served from 2014 to 2023. Prevost also holds a Peruvian passport and has been a Peruvian citizen since 2015.

It would be recalled that there were 133 voting cardinals, who had all been sequestered inside the Vatican during the conclave.

Any one of them needed two-thirds of the vote to become the next pope.