American Robert Prevost named as new Pope, to be known as Pope Leo XIV; Trump among first to offer congratulations

VATICAN CITY: The Vatican conclave on Thursday chose a new Pope, Robert Prevost – the first American pope, Vatican News said.

The Cardinals gathered in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel have elected 69-year-old Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the 267th Pope, who took the name Pope Leo XIV.

Pope Leo XIV becomes the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the first American to lead the Catholic Church. Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti, the senior cardinal deacon appeared on the St. Peter’s balcony that overlooks the St Peter’s square and announced, “Habemus Papam!” – “We have a pope.”

US President Donald Trump was among the first world leaders to offer his congratulations. “Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope. It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

At the Vatican the doors on the balcony opened to reveal the new Pope who greeted the crowds with, “May peace be with all of you.”

“Brothers and sisters dearest, this is the first greeting of Christ resurrected. I would like to offer a greeting of peace to reach your families, all of you, wherever you are. May peace be with you,” he said.

In his first comments in Italian, Pope Leo XIV said wants this message of peace to “enter your hearts, to reach your families and all people, wherever they are.”

Paying tribute to his predecessor Pope Francis, he urges faithful to “move forward, without fear, united, hand in hand with God and with each other.”
The former leader of the Augustinian order also thanked fellow cardinals for choosing him for the role.

Earlier, crowds broke out into cheers as white smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel chimney indicating that a new leader of the Catholic Church has been elected.

The 133 cardinal electors who had been sequestered inside since Wednesday reached a two-thirds majority decision on who will succeed Pope Francis.
The voice of the six bells of St Peter’s Basilca announced that the Church has its new Pope. “It’s a moment of joy,the wait is over,” the Vatican News said in a message.

During the most recent hospitalization of his predecessor at the “Gemelli” hospital Prevost presided over the Rosary for Pope Francis’s health in Saint Peter’s Square on March 3.

According to the Vatican, the new Bishop of Rome was born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, to Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian descent, and Mildred Martinez, of Spanish descent. He has two brothers, Louis Martin and John Joseph.

He spent his childhood and adolescence with his family and studied first at the Minor Seminary of the Augustinian Fathers and then at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where in 1977 he earned a Degree in Mathematics and also studied Philosophy.

On September 1 of the same year, he entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine (O.S.A.) in Saint Louis, in the Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Chicago, and made his first profession on September 2, 1978. On August 29, 1981, he took his solemn vows.

He received his theological education at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. At the age of 27, he was sent by his superiors to Rome to study Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum).

In Rome, he was ordained a priest on June 19, 1982, at the Augustinian College of Saint Monica by Monsignor Jean Jadot, then Pro-President of the Pontifical Council for Non-Christians, now the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.

Prevost obtained his licentiate in 1984; and the following year, while preparing his doctoral thesis, was sent to the Augustinian mission in Chulucanas, Piura, Peru (1985-1986). In 1987, he defended his doctoral thesis on “The Role of the Local Prior in the Order of Saint Augustine” and was appointed vocation director and missions director of the Augustinian Province of “Mother of Good Counsel” in Olympia Fields, Illinois (US). (ANI)