After a short but exciting conclave, a plume of white smoke drifting from the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, May 8 announced the election of a brand-new pope. That pope is—drumroll, please—Robert Francis Prevost, now known as Leo XIV, who is the first American pope in the Vatican’s history.
Originally from Chicago, and a graduate of Villanova University, Prevost is the head of the church’s Dicastery for Bishops (in other words, he selects new bishops) and holds dual citizenship in the US and Peru. While Prevost has some more conservative views—including opposing the ordaining of women as deacons and a less progressive record on LGBTQ+ rights than his predecessor, Pope Francis—he has also expressed support for Venezuelan immigrants and has been described by a fellow priest as “the dignified middle of the road.” Additionally, he’s “quite the amateur tennis player,” as Prevost revealed in an interview in 2023, also noting “reading, taking long walks, and traveling” as other interests.
One hundred and thirty-three cardinals worked tirelessly to choose a head of the Catholic Church to replace the late Pope Francis, and plenty of fervor around the question in Vatican City; top candidates included Rome’s Matteo Zuppi, longtime Vatican secretary of state Pietro Parolin, and former archbishop of Manila Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle.
This article was first published on Vogue.com.
