Robert Prevost, first American pope in history of the Roman Catholic Church, will take the name Leo XIV

CORRECTS TO LEO, NOT LEONE – Newly elected Pope Leone XIV appears at the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Cardinal Robert Prevost, a missionary who spent his career ministering in Peru and leads the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops, was elected the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the Roman Catholic Church.

Prevost, 69, took the name Leo XIV.

Earlier today, white smoke poured from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and the great bells of St. Peter’s Basilica tolled Thursday after cardinals elected the 267th pope to lead the Roman Catholic Church on the second day of their conclave.

The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers, priests made the sign of the cross and nuns wept as the crowd shouted “Viva il papa!” after the white smoke wafted into the late afternoon sky at 6:07 p.m. local time. Waving flags from around the world, tens of thousands of people waited to learn who had won.

The smoke signal means the winner secured at least 89 votes of the 133 cardinals participating in the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis.

As the crowd waited, the Swiss Guards marched out and a military band played, marching up the steps to the basilica.

The name was announced as a top cardinal uttered the words “Habemus Papam!” — Latin for “We have a pope!” — from the loggia of the basilica. The cardinal then read Cardinal Prevost’s birth name in Latin and revealed the name he has chosen to be called.

For much of the past century, the conclave has needed between three and 14 ballots to find a pope. John Paul I — the pope who reigned for 33 days in 1978 — was elected on the fourth ballot. His successor, John Paul II, needed eight. Francis was elected on the fifth in 2013.

The voting followed a strict choreography, dictated by church law.

Each cardinal wrote his choice on a piece of paper inscribed with the words “Eligo in summen pontificem” — “I elect as supreme pontiff.” They approached the altar one by one and say: “I call as my witness, Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who, before God, I think should be elected.”

The folded ballot was placed on a round plate and tipped into a silver and gold urn. Once cast, the ballots were opened one by one by three different “scrutineers,” cardinals selected at random who write down the names and read them aloud.

The scrutineers, whose work is checked by other cardinals called revisers, then added up the results of each round of balloting and wrote them on a separate sheet of paper, which is preserved in the papal archives.

As the scrutineer read out each name, he pierced each ballot with a needle through the word “Eligo.” All the ballots were then bound together with thread, and the bundle was put aside and burned in the chapel stove along with a chemical to produce the smoke.

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