Cardinal Robert Prevost elected new Pope Leo XIV: Here's what's next

VATICAN CITY - The papal conclave has ended with white smoke billowing from the Sistine Chapel, signaling the election of a new pope.

Cardinal Robert Prevost has been named the bishop of Rome and will take the name Pope Leo the XIV. He was elected during the third round of voting among the College of Cardinals.

Leo XIV, the first American ever elected pope, 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 above all 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. He did not speak in English. 

Pope Leo XIV makes his first appearance on the balcony. (Vatican Media)

Who is Cardinal Robert Prevost?

Pope Leo the XIV will be the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church. 

Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo the Fourteenth (Vatican)

The backstory:

A Chicago native, Prevost, 69, had extensive experience in Peru, first as a missionary and then an archbishop, and he is prefect of the Vatican’s powerful dicastery for bishops, in charge of vetting nominations for bishops around the world, according to the AP. 

Prevost had been a leading candidate except for his nationality. There had long been a taboo against a U.S. pope, given the geopolitical power already wielded by the United States in the secular sphere. But Prevost was seemingly eligible also because he’s a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru.

Francis clearly had his eye on Prevost and in many ways saw him as his heir apparent. He brought Prevost to the Vatican in 2023 to serve as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations from around the world, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church. As a result, Prevost had a prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals have.

The last pope to take the name Leo was Leo XIII, an Italian who led the church from 1878 to 1903. That Leo softened the church’s confrontational stance toward modernity, especially science and politics and laid the foundation for modern Catholic social thought, most famously with his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed workers’ rights and capitalism.

What's next for Pope Leo XIV? 

What's next:

Pope Leo XIV will celebrate Mass on Friday morning with cardinals in the Sistine Chapel.  The Mass is set for 5 a.m. ET.  He plans to deliver his first Sunday noon blessing from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. That's at 6 a.m. ET. 

He will also speak with the media at 4 a.m. ET Monday in the Vatican auditorium.

Reactions to first American pope

What they're saying:

President Trump congratulated Leo XIV on Truth Social. 

"Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope," he said. "It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American 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!"

The other side:

Cardinal Prevost's last post on X, formerly Twitter, was a repost of an opinion piece criticizing the Trump administration's aggressive immigration policies.