Vatican-Robert Francis Prevost was elected the 267th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday and adopted the name of Pope Leo XIV, becoming the first Pope of the United States and challenging conventional wisdom before the conclave that any American would be a risky bet to become pontiff.
A white smoke coming out of a chimney above the Sistine chapel signaled that the cardinals, isolated inside for two days, had elected a new leader of the 1.4 billion Roman Catholics of the world. As a Pope, Leo XIV will face difficult decisions about the Church’s direction, especially the agenda of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who defended greater inclusion and openness to his death last month, or forging a different way.
The cardinals arrived at their decision after being in conclave for just over 24 hours and after several rounds of voting. The group of 133 cardinals, the largest ever gathered in a conclave, included many who were appointed by Francisco and some who did not know each other. This has reached a serious challenge, given the wide range of containing and the divisions between them about the future of the church.
Despite its American roots, Cardinal Prevost, a 69 -year -old polyglot, born in Chicago, is seen as an ecclesiastical that transcends borders. He served for two decades in Peru, where he became a naturalized bishop and citizen, and then climbed to lead his international religious order. Until Francisco’s death, he held one of the most influential positions of the Vatican, managing the office that selects and manages bishops globally.
Member of the Order of St. Augustine, he resembles Francisco in his commitment to the poor and migrants and finding the people where they are. He told Vatican’s official news website last year that “the bishop should not be a small prince sitting in his kingdom.”
He spent much of his life outside the United States. Orded in 1982 at the age of 27, he received a doctorate in Canon Law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. In Peru, he was a missionary, parish priest, teacher and bishop. As leader of the Augustinians, he visited orders around the world and speaks Spanish and Italian.
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Often described as reserved and discreet, he would stylistically move away from Francis as Pope. Supporters believe that he will probably continue the advisory process initiated by Francisco to invite lay people to meet bishops.
It is unclear if it will be as open to LGBTQ+ Catholics as Francis was. Although he did not say much recently, in a 2012 bishops speech, he lamented that Western media and popular culture foment “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are in disagreement with the gospel.”
He cited the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families composed of same -sex partners and their adoptive children.” He, like many other cardinals, received criticism for his relations with priests accused of sexual abuse.
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