Cardinal Robert Prevost has taken the name Leo XIV. He is the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church.
As a missionary, Prevost, 69, spent his career ministering in Peru and led the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops.
AP News – May 8, 2025
White smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney Thursday at 6:07 p.m. local time, signaling that a pontiff had been elected to lead the Catholic Church.
New pope led order dedicated to the poor and service
The new pope was formerly the prior general, or leader, of the Order of St. Augustine, formed in the 13th century as a community of “mendicant” friars dedicated to poverty, service and evangelization.
The order’s requirements and ethos are traced to the fifth century St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the theological and devotional giants of early Christianity.
The order works in about 50 countries, according to its website, promoting a contemplative spirituality, communal living and service to others.
Pope Leo XIV’s first message: Peace and dialogue ‘without fear’
From the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, history’s first American pope recalled that he was an Augustinian priest, but 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.