American Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has been elected as the 267th Pope of the Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Leo XIV.
The election of the new Pope and his papal name were announced through the traditional “habemus papam” declaration, delivered from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica by the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Dominique Mamberti.
Pope Leo XIV, born in Chicago in 1955 and who turned 70 last September, is an Augustinian friar who has worked extensively in South America. He served as the Pope’s envoy to South America in 2023. He is only the second Pope from the Americas, after his predecessor, the late Pope Francis.
