Cardinals end the 2025 Pope Conference after just one day in quarantine in the Vatican Election of the New Pope. The person you choose, Cardinal Robert Prevostwill be called Pope Leo XIV, the first pope in the history of the United States.
This is what he knows.
Born in Chicago Robert Prevost is the first American pope in the history of the church. He was also a citizen of Peru and worked there for many years.
Prevost is the head of the church's bishop's church, which means he oversaw the choice of the new bishop.
Overall, he was considered a centrist, but on many social issues he was considered progressive, embracing marginalized groups such as Francis, who advocated for immigration and the poor. But, for example, Prevost opposed the women appointed as deacons, and he was therefore considered a conservative in the church doctrine.
Pope Leo XIV was born in 1955 in Chicago, Illinois. He studied theology at the Chicago Catholic Theology Union.
At the age of 27, he was sent to study in Rome and was appointed a priest in 1982. Then he went to the missionary in Peru. He returned to the United States for a few years, and then back to Peru, where he ran an Augustine seminary in Trujillo.
According to the Vatican, in 2014, he was appointed as the Acts Administrator of the Chiclayo Diocese in Peru by Pope Francis. A year later, he became bishop.
Pope Francis becomes Cardinal in 2023.
President Trump posted a message on social media congratulations to the first American-born pope.
"Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who has just been appointed Pope. It's a great honor to realize that he is the first pope in the United States. What an excitement, an honor for our country. I look forward to meeting with Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!"
Prevost's hometown, Chicagoand also celebrated his election on Twitter with Mayor Brandon Johnson: "Everything, including the Pope, comes from Chicago!"
"Congratulations to the first American Pope Leo! We hope to welcome you home as soon as possible," Johnson wrote.
The first act after the election of the new pope is Select a new name. The Vatican said that this means that his becoming a pope is similar to a second birth. Similarly, in the early days of Christianity, many popes changed their names because their last names were the origin of paganism.
The precedent for choosing a new name was set by the first pope, St. Peter, whose name was Simon.
But not all popes have chosen a new name. According to the Vatican, only 129 popes have chosen new names throughout history.
The Vatican said the pope sometimes chooses the name of his recent ex out of respect or shows a desire to continue. Others choose a name that has no connection to the recent predecessors to indicate their desire to innovate.
Choices usually reflect the attributes they wish to embody their pope.
Dennis Doyle, the theologian and professor emeritus at the University of Dayton, said the name chosen by the new pope would "indicate a certain spirit, direction and vision of the new pope."
For example, Pope Francis was the first pope in history to bear this name, paying tribute to St. Francis of Assisi. In the Catholic tradition, St. Francis of Assisi had a mysterious vision of Jesus, and he told him to rebuild the church. He also gave up his wealth and established the Franciscan monk order in 1290.