Cardinal Robert Prevost has been announced as the new pope of the Catholic Church on the second day of the conclave, after the fourth voting session in the Sistine Chapel. The 69-year-old cardinal adopted the name Leo XIV and will be the first U.S.-born pontiff in history. 

Born in Chicago in 1955, Robert Francis Prevost Martínez is also the second pontiff from the Americas after Pope Francis. He served for many years in Peru and holds Peruvian citizenship. Until now, he was in charge of the Vatican office tasked with selecting and managing bishops worldwide. 

He was considered close to Pope Francis insofar as he fits the new profile of religious leadership promoted by the Argentine pontiff: a polyglot familiar with the hardship of the downtrodden who also has experience beyond the boundaries of the Church’s traditional European axis.

At 6:07 p.m. local time (1:07 p.m. Argentina time), thousands of faithful erupted in uproar when white smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney, signaling that one of the 133 cardinals voting in the conclave had been elected pope. The six bells of St. Peter’s Basilica also started chiming to celebrate the election.

After that, the Swiss Guard marched through St. Peter’s Square and stood in formation to await the announcement of the new pope. A band played the Italian and Vatican anthems.

Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti made the official announcement at 7:13 p.m. local time (2:13 p.m. Argentina time). Following a short address to the crowd, ten minutes after the announcement, he welcomed the new pontiff onto the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica to salute them. Visibly moved, Pope Leo XIV gave an approximately 30-minute speech to the world.

Italian words with a sprinkling of Spanish

After saying “peace be with you” to the crowd, Prevost Martínez thanked his predecessor, Pope Francis. “We still keep in our ears that weak but always courageous voice of Pope Francis, who blessed Rome,” he said. 

“Let me continue this same blessing. God loves you very much; he loves you all. Evil will not prevail — we are all in God’s hands. Therefore, united hand in hand with God, let us go forward,” he added. He also echoed Francis’ stance by asking the faithful “to build bridges through dialogue, through encounter, to become one people in peace.”

Like Francis, he called the Church to be “always open to receive, like this square, with open arms, all those who need our charity, our presence of dialogue, and love.”

At one point, the pope interrupted his speech in Italian to briefly speak in Spanish. “If I am allowed, I want to especially salute my dear diocese in Chiclayo, Peru, where the faithful people have accompanied their bishop, shared their faith and given so much to continue being a Church faithful to Jesus Christ.”