White smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel chimney, this afternoon at 5:10pm, confirming election of new Pope.
The next spiritual leader of 1.4 billion Catholic faithful, worldwide, has been named as Robert Francis Prevost; having taken the name Pope Leo XIV and now becomes the first elected American pontiff.
Robert Francis Prevost OSA was born in Chicago on September 14th, 1955. Regarded as a moderate, he served as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America since 2023.
He previously served as Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru from 2015 until 2023, and was Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine from 2001 to 2013.
In 2015 the then Cardinal Prevost became a naturalized citizen of Peru as confirmed by Peru’s National Civil Registry. Today May 8th, 2025, he has been elected Pope and head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State.
Cardinal electors, numbering 133, natives of 70 countries across five continents participated in todays historical event, which is the largest and most international yet in the history of previous conclaves.
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