Francis’s 69-year-old successor is the first U.S.-born pope in the 2,000-year history of the Roman Catholic Church, which has grown to 1.4 billion strong.
There was cheer in St. Peter’s Square when white smoke from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney announced the second conclave had ended with a new pope. The bells of churches around the world tolled.
The cardinals’ majority vote was for Cardinal Robert Prevost, an Augustinian from Chicago who took the name Leo XIV. Pope Leo XIII was an advocate for social justice.
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“I never thought they would elect an American pope in my lifetime,“ said Church of the Little Flower Rev. Manuel F. Alvarez, better known as “Father Manny” in Coral Gables, who was with a group of St. Theresa School students who he said “went nuts” with joy.
From the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, and while wearing a red cape that Pope Francis refused, he delivered his first statements in Italian and Spanish.
His first words to the crowd: “La pace sia con tutti voi,” Italian for “May peace be with you.“
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The Holy Father — who was known as “Bob” while growing up in Chicago’s South Holland suburb — described some of his goals.
“We have to be a church that works together to build bridges and to keep our arms open,” he said. “Like this very piazza, welcoming.”
In a sign of continuity, the new head of the church used Francis’s words during his first blessing as pope.
“God loves us, God loves everyone, and evil will not prevail,” he said. “We are in the hands of God.”
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At the White House, President Donald Trump said he was looking forward to a meeting with the new pope. Vice President J.D. Vance is a Catholic convert.
“Such an honor for our country,” Trump said.
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Former President Joe Biden, the second Catholic U.S. president, and Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was raised Catholic, congratulated the new pope.
“May God grant him wisdom, courage, and grace as he carries out his sacred ministry,” Rubio wrote on X.
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Peruvians were also proud of the pontiff, formerly known as “Padre Roberto.”
The graduate of the Augustinian Villanova University near Philadelphia and the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago joined the Augustinian mission in Peru in 1985 and became a dual U.S.-Peruvian citizen in 2015.
Francis moved the former archbishop of Chiclayo from Peru to the Vatican in 2023 and trusted him as the president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, the office that vets bishop nominations.
Before he died last month, Francis also promoted the former top leader of the Augustinians to the most senior rank of cardinals.
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Vladimir Putin was among the world’s leaders who reacted publicly to the new pope.
“I am certain that the constructive dialogue and interactions that have been established between Russia and the Vatican will develop further based on the Christian values that unite us,” Putin said, according to Russian media.
In South Florida, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski described the new pope as a “global citizen” who will “hold back the barbarians” in a divided world and “be able to speak the language of this current administration and perhaps do so in a very convincing way.”
According to the Holy See, the new pope was set to meet with cardinals for Mass on Friday, make a public appearance on Sunday, and meet with journalists on Monday.
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