Felipe Salvosa II
May 9, 2025
Vatican
Christianity has a new shepherd, and he is Robert Francis Prevost, an American cleric produced by the Augustinian order.
The election of Prevost, 69, the first pope from the United States, was announced by the Cardinal Proto-Deacon, Dominique Mamberti, at past 7 p.m. Rome time, about an hour after the white smoke signal came out of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel.
Prevost, a native of Chicago but now a citizen of Peru, where he spent years doing missionary work, took the papal name Leo XIV, a signal that he would take off from the legacy of Leo XIII, under whose long reign from 1878 to 1903 promulgated the Church’s social doctrine.
Prevost, who had served as the superior of the Augustinians from 2001 to 2013, appeared to signal a recalibration.
He wore the red satin mozzetta and stole famously declined by his predecessor, the late Pope Francis, when he was elected in 2013.
Until the sede vacante, Prevost served as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, the powerful Vatican office responsible for vetting shepherds for the world’s dioceses.
The 133 cardinals tasked to choose the 267th pontiff and successor of St. Peter, locked in conclave since May 7, wrapped up in four rounds the secret voting process triggered by the death of Francis 17 days ago.
Bells tolled at St. Peter’s Basilica to confirm the result.
American Jesuit Thomas Reese said Prevost “got strong support from cardinals from Latin America where he worked for 20 years.”
“He is multilingual and has a reputation as a listener. He will carry forward the legacy of Pope Francis. The Holy Spirit continues to surprise us,” he said in an email.
“By picking the name Leo XIV, he shows he is committed to the social teaching of the church, which was made foundational by his predecessor Leo XIII,” Reese added.
The election of the first pope from the US is unprecedented as it had been widely thought that an American pontiff placed too much power in the hands of the world’s biggest superpower.
Prevost has been to the Philippines a number of times. He visited Cebu in 2000 and blessed a spirituality center for the Sto. Niño icon in 2008 when he was the prior general of the Augustinians. In 2010, he was in Manila to attend the order’s intermediate general chapter.
The Sto. Niño image was brought by Magellan to the Philippines in 1521 and retrieved by an Augustinian, Fray Andres de Urdaneta, in 1565.
The Sto. Niño, the oldest icon and focus of one of the largest religious devotions in the Philippines, is under the care of the new pontiff’s fellow Augustinians in a minor basilica in Cebu City.
