White smoke from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel announced that the cardinals, who had been inside for two days, elected a new leader for 1.4 billion Roman Catholics worldwide. The 267th Pope is 69-year-old Robert Prevost from Chicago. He was ordained as a priest in 1982. For the past two years, Prevost led the Dicastery for Bishops — a department of the Roman Curia responsible for episcopal activities and the legal statuses of Latin Rite churches. He took the name Leo XIV, becoming the first Pope from the United States and dispelling the pre-conclave notion that any American would have little chance of becoming pontiff.
133 cardinals made the decision after spending just over 24 hours in the conclave and after four rounds of voting. As The New York Times writes, despite his American roots, Pope Leo XIV is considered a church figure who transcends boundaries.
He spent most of his life outside the United States. Ordained at the age of 27, he earned a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. In Peru, he was a missionary, parish priest, teacher, and bishop. As head of the Augustinians, he visited orders worldwide and is fluent in Spanish and Italian.
A member of the Order of St. Augustine, he resembles Francis in his commitment to the poor and migrants and his desire to meet people where they are. Last year, he told the Vatican's official news site that “a bishop should not be a little prince sitting in his kingdom.”
He is often described as reserved and cautious, and stylistically he will differ from Francis in the role of Pope, according to NYT.
Photo: AP