Pope Leo XIV: US Cardinal Robert Prevost elected as the new pope

Pope Leo XIV: US Cardinal Robert Prevost elected as the new pope

mangaloretoday.com

Vatican, May 08, 2025: Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected as the new pope on Thursday, becoming the first American pontiff to take the top job at the Vatican. He will be taking the name Leo XIV.

Robert Francis Prevost has been elected by his fellow cardinals to be the first US-born pope and has chosen to take the name Leo XIV. With the choice of Prevost, experts say, the cardinals opted for continuity with the late Francis, a progressive from Argentina who shook up the Church in his 12-year papacy.

Prevost will celebrate a private mass with cardinals at the Sistine Chapel on Friday at 11am (0900 GMT). In it, he will deliver his much anticipated first homily as pope.

Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said the choice of the name Leo was a “clear and deliberate” reference to the last pope named Leo. Leo XIII was elected in 1878 and was best known for his 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum, which outlined workers’ rights.

In his first comments after his election, Pope Leo XIV preached a message of “unity” and of “moving forward”. He said he wants this message of peace to “enter your hearts, to reach your families and all people, wherever they are.”

American pope, and specifically a pope born in Chicago. City mayor Brandon Johnson tweeted “Everything dope, including the Pope, comes from Chicago” and former US president Barack Obama congratulated the “fellow Chicagoan” on social media.

The election of the 69-year-old was also celebrated in Peru, where he has spent much of his life. Peru’s president, Dina Boluarte described him as a Peruvian “by choice and conviction”.

US president Donald Trump said he was “surprised” but that it is a “great honour” to have an American pope. Leaders from countries around the world also offered their congratulations.

An account on X widely believed to belong to the new pope shows him to be somewhat critical of the Trump administration. The account posted two articles that took issue with the stance by JD Vance, also a Catholic, on immigration. One article was headlined “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”

Leo’s brother, John Prevost, told US media that Leo, was not afraid to speak his mind and that he was currently very unhappy with “what’s going on with immigration”. He told the New York Times: “I don’t think he’ll stay quiet for too long if he has something to say … I know he’s not happy with what’s going on with immigration. I know that for a fact.”

In a 2012 address to the world Synod of Bishops, Father Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV appeared to criticise homosexuality, saying “Western mass media is extraordinarily effective in fostering within the general public enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel – for example abortion, homosexual lifestyle, euthanasia”.

Like his predecessor, Pope Francis, Leo is also on the record as opposing the ordination of women. He told a 2023 synod that “clericalizing women” would not solve problems in the Catholic Church and might create new ones, according to the Catholic news agency.