There’s a New Pope — Here’s Where He’s From
Pope Francis during the Audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall with the participants and operators of the Living Nativity Scene of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Vatican City (Vatican), December 16th, 2023 (Photo by Grzegorz Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
Habemus Papam. There is a new Pope. A few weeks after Pope Francis, the first Pope from Latin America, passed away on Monday (April 21) at the age of 88, his successor has been elected. He is Robert Francis Prevost, 69 years old, from Chicago, the first U.S.-born to be elected Pope. Prevost also holds Peruvian citizenship, as he worked there for many years.
He will be known as Pope Leo XIV.
Cardinals took two days to elect a new pontiff, the same timeline as the last two conclaves. Francis and Benedict XVI were both revealed on the evening of the conclave’s second day. Meanwhile, Pope John Paul II, the longest-reigning pope of modern times, was announced on the third day in 1978.
Pope Francis leaves behind the legacy of a changed Church, one that appealed to many more people than it had during previous Popes. He enhanced inclusion, welcoming LGBTQ+ individuals and women into the church, pushed for transparency, and was a proponent of the democratisation of the Catholic Church. On his last day, Pope Francis gave the traditional Easter Sunday blessing from the balcony at St. Peter’s on Easter Sunday and called for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Not much is known about how Pope Leo XIV will conduct his Papacy, but as a Cardinal, he was known for following in the same line as Pope Francis on social issues. He was, however, also known for some controversies regarding his handling of sexual abuses in the Church. And when it comes to LGBTQ+ issues, The New York Times reported in 2012 that he indicated that pop culture created “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel.”