Even before his name was announced from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, the crowds below were chanting “Viva il Papa” – Long live the Pope.
Robert Prevost, 69, will be the 267th occupant of the throne of St Peter and he will be known as Leo XIV.
He will be the first American to fill the role of Pope, although he is considered as much a cardinal from Latin America because of the many years he spent as a missionary in Peru, before becoming an archbishop there.
Born in Chicago in 1955 to parents of Ecuadorian and French descent, Prevost served as an altar boy and was ordained as a priest in 1982. Although he moved to Peru three years later, he returned regularly to the US to serve as a pastor and a prior in his home city.
He has Peruvian nationality and is fondly remembered as a figure who worked with marginalised communities and helped build bridges.
He spent 10 years as a local parish pastor and as a teacher at a seminary in Trujillo in northwestern Peru.
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In his first words as Pope, Leo XIV spoke fondly of his predecessor Francis.
“We still hear in our ears the weak but always courageous voice of Pope Francis who blessed us,” he said.
“United and hand in hand with God, let us advance together,” he told cheering crowds.
He also spoke of his role in the Augustinian Order. He was 30 when he moved to Peru as part of an Augustinian mission.
Francis made him Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru a year after becoming Pope.
He is well known to cardinals because of his high-profile role as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in Latin America which has the important task of selecting and supervising bishops.
Francis made him a cardinal less than two years ago.
As 80% of the cardinals who took part in the conclave were appointed by Francis, it is not all that surprising that someone like Prevost was elected, even if he was only recently appointed.
He will be seen as a figure who favoured the continuity of Francis’ reforms in the Catholic Church.
Prevost is believed to have shared Francis’ views on migrants, the poor and the environment.
Although he is an American, and will be fully aware of the divisions within the Catholic Church, his Latin American background also represents continuity after a Pope who came from Argentina.
During his time as archbishop in Peru he has not escaped the sexual abuse scandals that have clouded the Church, however his diocese fervently denied he had been involved in any attempted cover-up.
Before the conclave, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that during gatherings of the College of Cardinals in the days before the conclave they emphasised the need for a pope with “a prophetic spirit capable of leading a Church that does not close in on itself but knows how to go out and bring light to a world marked by despair”.
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