Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of the United States has been elected the 267th pope and has stepped onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica as the new leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
Cardinal Prevost Aged 69, from Chicago, Illinois, is the first ever pope from the United States.The New Pope who will be known as Pope Leo XIV is aged 69, was greeted with huge cheers from thousands who gathered in St Peter’s Square.
”May peace be with all of you,” he says from the Vatican balcony.
The Chicago-born Prevost is seen as a reformer and worked for many years as a missionary in Peru before being made an archbishop there.
Addressing the crowd in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo paid tribute to the late pontiff Francis, urging the crowd to remember his predecessor’s legacy before outlining his vision for the Catholic Church.
“We have to seek together to be a missionary church. A church that builds bridges and dialogue,” he said.
Speaking in Italian to thousands of Catholic faithful, Leo called on people to “show our charity” to others “and be in dialog with love.”
Pope Leo was chosen just two days after a group of 133 Cardinals gathered in conclave to select a new pontiff.
That timeline matches the previous two gatherings, suggesting that Prevost quickly impressed his peers during the secretive process.
Francis and Benedict XVI were both revealed in the evening of the conclave’s second day, while John Paul II, the longest-reigning pope of modern times, was selected on the third day in 1978.
Culled from CNN
