May 8, 2025 Leo XIV elected as first American pope

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Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected as the first US-born pontiff Thursday and will be known as Pope Leo XIV.

The 69-year-old from Chicago stepped into his role as the 267th pope on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday evening, addressing thousands of cheering Catholics with the words: “Peace be with you all.”

Here’s a look at Pope Leo before his papacy:

Then Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost celebrated Mass at St. Jude Parish in New Lenox, Illinois, in 2024.

Then Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost celebrated Mass at St. Jude Parish in New Lenox, Illinois, in 2024.

Then Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost during an event at St. Jude Parish in New Lenox, Illinois, in 2004.

Robert Francis Prevost posing for a picture.

In this undated picture Robert Francis Prevost greets Pope John Paul II.

Rev. John Lydon talks with CNN's Whitney Wild during a tour of the Augustinian Formation House at CTU, where Pope Leo lived and worked before he was named a bishop in Peru.

Father Mark Francis — a friend who attended the same seminary as Pope Leo XIV in the 1970s — said the pontiff’s roots in the Midwest played a large role in shaping him as a religious leader.

Francis, who’s now Provincial of the Viatorians in the US, describes Pope Leo as serious, focused, and dependable, with a good sense of humor.

Francis, who grew up in the Chicago area as well, characterized the Chicago church as “forward-looking,” with a strong desire for women to be more involved in the church. “I think that is a hallmark of my ministry, and I also believe of Pope Leo’s ministry as well: a respect for women and a respect for their voice.”

Rev. John Lydon and the new pope were undergrads together at Villanova then crossed paths again in Peru.

Peggy Wurtz, who grew up in Dolton, Illinois, and went to Catholic school with Pope Leo, said his family was always pious. “He was super smart and super quiet. There isn’t a bad thing you can say about him. He is pure, pure, this guy was destined to be pope,” she said in a phone interview.

John Prevost, Pope Leo's brother, speak with CNN affiliate WBBM.

John Prevost said he thinks his brother, Pope Leo XIV, “will be a second Pope Francis.”

“I think he’ll follow right in his footsteps working for the underprivileged,” Prevost told CNN affiliate WBBM.

He said his brother will make a good pope because Pope Leo has “a deep feeling for the disenfranchised, for the poor, for those who were not listened to.”

He said that he thinks his brother will be very active around the world and will “speak his mind.”

Newly elected Pope Leo waves from the balcony at Saint Peter's Basilica on Thursday.

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost – now known as Pope Leo XIV — is the first pope from the United States.

The 69-year-old from Chicago is known as a leader with global experience. He spent much of his career as a missionary in South America and most recently led a powerful Vatican office for bishop appointments.

His election represents continuity with the papacy of the late Pope Francis, and he is expected to continue Francis’ reforms of the church as well as his focus on poverty and marginalized people.

Here’s what else you should know about the new American pontiff:

Learn more about the new pope here.

Then Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops at Vatican City in September 30, 2023.

Robert Prevost said in 2023 that “clericalizing women” would not solve issues in the church, according to the Catholic News Agency.

Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, did acknowledge that women are taking on new roles of leadership at the Vatican and elsewhere in the church, according to the Catholic News Agency.

But, he said, “It isn’t as simple as saying that, ‘You know, at this stage we’re going to change the tradition of the Church after 2,000 years on any one of those points.’”

“Perhaps we need to look at a new understanding or different understanding of both leadership, power, authority, and service — above all service — in the Church from the different perspectives that can be, if you will, brought to the life of the Church by women and men,” he said, according to the news agency.

Prevost’s comments came during a meeting of Catholic bishops, known as a synod, in which Pope Francis had allowed women to participate and vote for the first time.

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Hear former President Biden react to first American pope election

00:32 • Source: CNN

Hear former President Biden react to first American pope election

00:32

Former President Joe Biden said today that he’s pleased to see Pope Leo XIV making history as the first American pope.

Citing the new pontiff’s friendship with the late Pope Francis, Biden said he believes Pope Leo XIV is “going to keep moving the church in the direction (of) being more ecumenical in reaching out.”

CNN’s Kaanita Iyer contributed to this report.

Cardinals gather with the newly elected Pontiff, Pope Leo on the Vatican balcony on Thursday.

Pope Leo XIV is likely to continue the legacy of his predecessor in advocating for environmental preservation and service of the world’s poor and suffering populations, a close friend tells CNN.

Purcaro and Robert Prevost, who is now the pope, first served together in an Augustinian mission in northern Peru, serving a community of poor subsistence farmers. The pair have worked together between Rome and Peru for more than two decades.

They spoke before Prevost entered the conclave. Prevost told Purcaro he had heard his name being discussed as a potential papal candidate but “wasn’t looking for anything,” telling Purcaro he would accept “whatever God wants.”

The priest believes Pope Leo will live humbly as Pope Francis did, shirking the pomp and grandeur that sometimes accompany the position.

“When we look at him dressed as he is now, we might think (of) clergy, hierarchy, distance, privilege, which I don’t see as part of his nature at all,” Purcaro said. “It would be natural for Pope Leo, as (he did as) Bob Prevost, to live humbly, simply, genuinely, authentically.”

Young people gather on the steops of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, on Thursday after the announcement of the new pope.

From young seminarians in robes to college students in shorts and T-shirts, the gathering in front of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, was energetic and joyful Thursday, with the election of American Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV.

A Catholic University freshman had poignant words, when asked what kind of Pope he wanted Leo XIV to be.

“We definitely need a reformer,” he said. “We really need unity and peace right now in the church … I think it’s great that he’s from America because we need a world figure like that from America to spread the true meaning of Christ’s gospel around the world.”

The young crowd was gathered at the foot of the largest Catholic church in the US, which the Basilica says is visited by about 1 million people a year. The facility draped yellow and white “papal bunting” on each entrance and a huge American flag on the bell tower after word came of Leo XIV’s election.

CNN spoke to a student at Catholic University who just converted to Catholicism around Easter.

Austin Morse, from Ellicott City, Maryland, was forthcoming on what he’d like Pope Leo to achieve, calling for him to eschew church politics.

Correction: A previous version of this post incorrectly spelled Austin Morse’s name.

Newly elected Pope Leo appears on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica on Thursday.

Congratulatory messages continue to pour in for the newly-elected Pope Leo XIV, even as his stance on the conflicts in the Middle East remain unclear.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog expressed his excitement for “enhancing the relationship between Israel and the Holy See” and wishing Leo a pontificate “of building bridges and understanding between all faiths and peoples.”

The Palestinian Authority acknowledged the relationship President Mahmoud Abbas had with the late Pope Francis in a statement that said in part: “[Abbas] expressed his warmest congratulations and best wishes to Pope Leo XIV for success in fulfilling his noble duties, and for going down the path of the late Pope Francis in his efforts to achieve peace, affirming his pride in the historic friendship between the State of Palestine and the Holy See.” This comes after the Palestinian Authority sent an official delegation to attend the funeral of Pope Francis.

The militant group Hamas extended its “warmest congratulations” to the new Pontiff and expressed hope for his pontificate to continue on a path similar to his predecessor’s with regards to expressing solidarity with Palestinian civilians.

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), said the organization is looking forward to pursuing “our dialogue & partnership with the Holy See in promoting the rights of #Palestine Refugees & support our work to assist all those impacted by the war in #Gaza,” according to a post on X.

Leo’s stances on the highly-contentious Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts remain unclear. It’s also unclear whether he will be explicitly calling for a ceasefire of the current Israel-Hamas war, like his predecessor Francis, whose dying wishes included a conversion of a “popemobile” he used in Jerusalem to a mobile clinic to be dispatched to the Gaza strip.

CNN’s Ibrahim Dahman and Eugenia Yosef contributed.

Vice President JD Vance speaks during a tour of Nucor Steel Berkeley in Huger, South Carolina, on May 1.

A social media account under the name of Robert Prevost in February posted an article critical of Vice President JD Vance’s interpretation of Christian doctrine, calling it “wrong.”

In a February 3 post, the X account shared an article by the National Catholic Reporter entitled “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”

CNN has reached out to the Vatican, X and friends of Prevost, but has not been able to independently confirm the account is connected to the newly elected Pope Leo XIV.

The account was started in August 2011 and has posts on a wide range of topics, including immigration, on which Pope Francis had been sharply critical of the Trump administration.

At one point Thursday, the account had fewer than 800 followers. As of 5 p.m. ET, it had grown to more than 232,000 followers, according to CNN’s analysis of the account.

Read more on the X account here.

People react to the selection of newly elected Pope Leo at Saint Patricks Cathedral in New York on Thursday.

One in five American adults identify as Catholic, a number that has been stable since about 2014, according to the Pew Research Center.

In Chicago, the new pope’s hometown, the number of adults identifying as Catholic is even higher, where nearly one in three people in the broader metropolitan area identify as Catholic.

Vice President JD Vance, a convert to Catholicism, congratulated Leo on X, saying: “I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church. May God bless him!”

Peru’s national soccer team La Bicolor shared a picture on social media recognizing the new Pope Leo XIV.

“New leader in hope and he is Peruvian at heart,” the team wrote in the caption of an Instagram post showing a jersey with the name “León” and the number 14 written on its back.

The new pope spent much of his career as a missionary in South America and served as a bishop in Peru, where he also holds citizenship.

llinois voting records show that Pope Leo XIV is registered to vote in the Chicago suburb of New Lenox, and has regularly cast ballots there.

He voted in the general election in 2024, 2018, 2014 and 2012, according to records provided to CNN by the Will County Clerk’s Office. Illinois voters do not have to register to vote as a member of a political party, but can choose which party’s ballot to vote on during primary elections.

Prevost voted in the Republican primary in 2016, 2014 and 2012, the records show.

Students, staff and faculty at Divine Word College Seminary in Epworth, Iowa, cheered during their lunch break as the new Pope was announced.

People cheer for announcement of new Pope

00:21 • Source: CNN

People cheer for announcement of new Pope

00:21

Video credit: Divine Word College Seminary - Epworth, Iowa

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson speaks in Grant Park on May 01, in Chicago.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson — of Pope Leo XIV’s hometown — celebrated the new pontiff, calling his election “one of the biggest moments in the modern history of our city,” according to a statement.

He applauded Leo’s “strong tradition of standing up for the poor and the vulnerable” and said it is a “tremendous moment for our Catholic community and for all Chicagoans.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker also called the first American pope a “historic moment.”

“Hailing from Chicago, Pope Leo XIV ushers in a new chapter that I join those in our state welcoming in at a time when we need compassion, unity, and peace,” Pritzker said in a post on X.

People use their phones to film, as newly elected Pope Leo appears on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica on Thursday.

Messages of congratulations for Pope Leo XIV continue to pour in from leaders around the world.

Here’s what some of them are saying:

An aerial view of Villanova University on Thursday.

Villanova University celebrated the election of its alumnus, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who is now the 267th head of the Catholic Church and first American pope and Augustinian friar to be elected pontiff.

Leo graduated from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) at Villanova University in 1977, according to the school. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics in 1977 from Villanova, one of two Augustinian Catholic institutions of higher learning in the US, before earning a Master of Divinity degree from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 1982.

Newly elected Pope Leo waves from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica on Thursday.

Former US presidents are congratulating Pope Leo XIV — the first pontiff in history who was born in the United States.

Robert Prevost, as he was known before today, is from Chicago. He earned his bachelor’s in mathematics from Villanova University in Pennsylvania and went on receive his diploma in theology from the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago. He then spent many years serving in Peru.

Here is some of the reaction from former US presidents:

This post has been updated with comments from Clinton.

Peru's President Dina Boluarte speaks to members of the press at the government palace in Lima on April 05, 2024.

Peru President Dina Boluarte called Pope Leo XIV’s selection to lead the Catholic Church a “historic moment for Peru and the world,” in an address today.

Leo, spent much of his career as a missionary in South America. He worked for a decade in Trujillo and was later appointed bishop of Chiclayo, another Peruvian city, where he served from 2014 to 2023.

He became a citizen in 2015, the president said.

She asked people in Peru to pray for the new pope and said his election “is a call to renew our faith, to work for justice, and to strengthen unity in Peru and beyond.”