Robert Prevost chosen as new pope, first US pontiff in history

Name: Robert Prevost chosen as new pope, first US pontiff in history of Catholic Church
Uploaded: 2025-05-08T16:13:04.000Z
Duration: 7 min 3 s
Description: Robert Prevost chosen as new pope, first US pontiff in history of Catholic Church

He has taken the name Leo XIV and will succeed Pope Francis, who died on April 21 at age 88

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Robert Prevost chosen as new pope, first US pontiff in history of Catholic Church

Associated Press

Published: 12:13am, 9 May 2025Updated: 5:43pm, 9 May 2025

Robert Prevost, a missionary who spent his career ministering in Peru and leads the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops, was elected the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church.

Prevost, a 69 member of the Augustinian religious order, took the name Leo XIV. He appeared on the loggia of St Peter’s Square wearing the traditional red cape of the papacy – a cape that Pope Francis had eschewed on his election in 2013.

The new pontiff said “Peace be with you” in his first words as pope, offering a message of peace and dialogue “without fear”.

He recalled he was an Augustinian priest, but that he was a Christian above all and a bishop, “so we can all walk together”.

He spoke in Italian and then switched to Spanish, recalling his many years spent as a missionary and then archbishop of Chiclayo, Peru.

People react to the white smoke from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel, indicating that a new pope has been elected at the Vatican on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Prevost had been a leading candidate except for his nationality. There had long been a taboo against a US pope, given the geopolitical power already wielded by the United States in the secular sphere.