Habemus papam! We have a pope.
At 7.14 p.m. Rome time, an hour after white smoke had issued forth, the cardinal proto-deacon, Dominique Mamberti, 73, came to the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to announce to the world the name of the new pope. He made the announcement in Latin: “Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum: Habemus papam!” (“I announce to you a great joy: We have a pope!”). Then, breaking the suspense, he continued in Latin the name of the cardinal who is now pope:
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, O.S.A.
Next he announced the name the new pope has chosen: Leo XIV.
The first American-born pope, Leo XIV came onto the balcony at 7:23 p.m. Rome time to roars from the crowd. His first words as Holy Father were in Italian: “Peace be with all of you!”
Cardinal Robert Prevost, O.S.A., a former prior general of the Augustinians and longtime missionary in Peru, did not enter the conclave as a favorite to succeed Pope Francis. His reputation as a trusted, steady figure who was known for his humility, discretion and balanced judgment—as well as his service for the last two years as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, where he oversaw the selection and supervision of Latin-rite bishops from around the world—may have raised him to the fore. He referenced his background in his initial address to those gathered in St. Peter’s Square: “I am a son of Saint Augustine, an Augustinian. He said, ‘With you I am a Christian, for you a bishop.’ So may we all walk together towards that homeland that God has prepared for us.”
Born in Chicago, the 69-year-old new pontiff was appointed by Pope Francis in 2023 to lead the Dicastery for Bishops, one of the most influential roles in the church, where he oversaw the selection of bishops worldwide. Before his time in Rome, he served as bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, and played a key role in strengthening church leadership across Latin America.
Like the previous two conclaves that elected Pope Francis and Pope Benedict, this, too, lasted only two days. As the cardinals returned to the Sistine Chapel to vote for the fourth time shortly after 6 p.m. this Thursday, an air of great expectation was building in the crowd in St. Peter’s Square. Already last evening, 45,000 had gathered in the square to see the first sign of smoke, and now that number has grown and it was expected to reach about 250,000 in the area inside the square and the adjoining streets as people rush to receive the first blessing of the new pope.
A longtime missionary in Peru, the 69-year-old pope holds both U.S. and Peruvian citizenship.
La Repubblica, the major Italian daily, described him on April 25 as “cosmopolitan and shy,” but also said he was “appreciated by conservatives and progressives. He has global visibility in a conclave in which few [cardinals] know each other.”
That visibility comes from the fact that as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops for the past two years, he was instrumental in helping Pope Francis choose bishops for many Latin-rite dioceses, he met hundreds of bishops during their “ad limina” visits to Rome and was called to assist the world’s Latin-rite bishops “in all matters concerning the correct and fruitful exercise of the pastoral office entrusted to them.”
The new pope was serving as bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, when Pope Francis called him to the Vatican in January 2023.
During a talk at St. Jude Parish in Chicago in August, the then-cardinal said Pope Francis nominated him “specifically because he did not want someone from the Roman Curia to take on this role. He wanted a missionary; he wanted someone from outside; he wanted someone who would come in with a different perspective.”
In a March 2024 interview with Catholic News Service, he said Pope Francis’ decision in 2022 to name three women as full members of the dicastery, giving them input on the selection of bishops “contributes significantly to the process of discernment in looking for who we hope are the best candidates to serve the church in episcopal ministry.”
To deter attitudes of clericalism among bishops, he said, “it’s important to find men who are truly interested in serving, in preaching the Gospel, not just with eloquent words, but rather with the example and witness they give.”
In fact, the cardinal said, Pope Francis’ “most effective and important” bulwark against clericalism was his being “a pastor who preaches by gesture.”
In an interview in 2023 with Vatican News, then-Cardinal Prevost spoke about the essential leadership quality of a bishop.
“Pope Francis has spoken of four types of closeness: closeness to God, to brother bishops, to priests and to all God's people,” he said. “One must not give in to the temptation to live isolated, separated in a palace, satisfied with a certain social level or a certain level within the church.”
“And we must not hide behind an idea of authority that no longer makes sense today,” he said. “The authority we have is to serve, to accompany priests, to be pastors and teachers.”
As prefect of the dicastery, then-Cardinal Prevost also served as president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, where nearly 40 percent of the world’s Catholics reside.
Soon after coming to Rome to head the dicastery, he told Vatican News that bishops have a special mission of promoting the unity of the church.
“The lack of unity is a wound that the church suffers, a very painful one,” he said in May 2023. “Divisions and polemics in the church do not help anything. We bishops especially must accelerate this movement toward unity, toward communion in the church.”
In September, a television program in Peru reported on the allegations of three women who said that then-Bishop Prevost failed to act against a priest who sexually abused them as minors. The diocese strongly denied the accusation, pointing out that he personally met with the victims in April 2022, removed the priest from his parish, suspended him from ministry and conducted a local investigation that was then forwarded to the Vatican. The Vatican said there was insufficient evidence to proceed, as did the local prosecutor's office.
Pope Leo XIV was born Sept. 14, 1955, in Chicago, Ill. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the Augustinian-run Villanova University in Pennsylvania and joined the order in 1977, making his solemn vows in 1981. He holds a degree in theology from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and a doctorate from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
He joined the Augustinian mission in Peru in 1985 and largely worked in the country until 1999, when he was elected head of the Augustinians’ Chicago-based province. From 2001 to 2013, he served as prior general of the worldwide order. In 2014, Pope Francis named him bishop of Chiclayo, in northern Peru, and the pope asked him also to be apostolic administrator of Callao, Peru, from April 2020 to May 2021.
The new pope speaks English, Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese and can read Latin and German.
Includes reporting from Catholic News Service. This story will be updated.
