By Catholic News Agency
VATICAN CITY — Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has been elected as the 267th pope of the Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Leo XIV.
White smoke rose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel at 6:09 p.m. Rome time on Thursday, May 8, 2025, signaling that the College of Cardinals had chosen a successor to Pope Francis, who died on April 21.
shortly after his election on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
(Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA)
Thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers as the bells of the basilica began to toll, confirming the election of a new pontiff. The crowds gathered as word spread throughout Rome that a new pope had been chosen.
The new pontiff appeared on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at approximately 7:25 p.m. local time, where Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, the protodeacon of the College of Cardinals and prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, announced in Latin: “Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum: Habemus Papam!”(“I announce to you a great joy: We have a pope!”)
Before appearing on the balcony, the newly elected Pope Leo XIV spent time in the “Room of Tears,” a small chamber adjacent to the Sistine Chapel. This traditionally named room is where new pontiffs first don the papal vestments and have a moment of private prayer and reflection as they absorb the magnitude of their election to the Chair of St. Peter.
Following the announcement, Leo XIV addressed the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square and those watching around the world, offering his first blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) as the new Roman pontiff.
Pope Leo XIV greeted the world for the first time with the words “Peace be with all of you.”
The 69-year-old new pope, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, was elected the first pope from the United States. A native of Chicago, Leo spoke in Italian from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, addressing the hundreds of thousands of people waiting in the square and streets below.
“Peace be with you all. Dearest brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the risen Christ, the Good Shepherd, who has given his life for God’s flock. I too would like that this greeting of peace enters into your heart, reaching your families, and all people, wherever they are, to all peoples, to all the earth. Peace be with you,” Leo said in his opening lines.
The pope asked those present to help the Church to build bridges through dialogue and encounter, working for unity and peace. He thanked Pope Francis and the cardinals who chose him to be the successor of St. Peter, history’s first pope.
The pope added that he wants to “walk together … as a united Church, always searching for peace, justice, and trying to always work as men and women faithful to Jesus Christ, without fear to proclaim the Gospel, to be missionaries.”
Pointing out that he is a member of the Augustinian religious order, Leo paraphrased the words of his founder, St. Augustine, who once said in a sermon: “With you I am a Christian and for you I am a bishop.”
In a special greeting to the Catholic Church of Rome, of which he is bishop, Leo said: “We must learn together how to be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges, dialogue, always open to receive, like this square with its ‘arms’ open to all, everyone who sees our charity, our presence, dialogue, love.”
Breaking off from Italian into Spanish, the pope greeted the people of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, where he was bishop from 2015 until Pope Francis brought him to the Vatican as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in 2023.
Speaking again in Italian, the pope said the faithful want “a synodal Church, one that looks always for peace, for charity, and to be close to those who suffer.”
Recalling the day’s feast day of Our Lady of Pompei, Pope Leo invited those present to pray a Hail Mary with him “for this new mission, but for the whole Church, for peace in the world.”
After the prayer asking for the intercession of the Virgin Mary, the new pope then bestowed his first apostolic blessing, “urbi et orbi,” on the city and the world.
