Pope Leo XIV is first US head of Catholic Church

Cardinal Robert Prevost has become the first US leader of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church taking the name Pope Leo XIV and telling the world: Peace be with you all!”

- TOM WATLING

The new pontiff had to overcome the taboo against a US pope, given the geopolitical power already wielded by the United States in the secular sphere, but was able to do so after the fourth vote of the secretive conclave that chooses the pontiff. White smoke billowed from a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, signifying the 133 cardinal electors had made their decision after two days of ballots.

Pope Leo appeared on the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica about an hour after the smoke went up at around 6pm local time. “Peace be with you all,” he told the cheering crowd, speaking in fluent Italian. He also spoke in Spanish during his brief address, but did not say anything in English.

The late Pope Francis brought the 69-year-old to the Vatican in 2023 as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church. Originally from Chicago, Pope Leo has spent most of his career as a missionary in Peru. He has given few media interviews and rarely speaks in public.

President Donald Trump swiftly congratulated the new Pope: “What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!”

Other world leaders, from Sir Keir Starmer in the UK to Vladimir Putin in Russia, also lined up to congratulate the pontiff.

Leo becomes the 267th Catholic pope after the death last month of Pope Francis, who was the first Latin American pope and had led the Church for 12 years and widely sought to open the staid institution up to the modern world.

Francis enacted a range of reforms and allowed debate on divisive issues such as women’s ordination and better inclusion of LGBT+ Catholics.