Cardinal Robert Prevost elected as 1st American pope, takes name Leo XIV

CAIRO – 8 May 2025:  Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected on Thursday as the first American pope, and took the name Leo XIV.

Prevost, 69, will be the267th pontiff after being elected by the College of Cardinals to succeed Pope Francis, who died April 21 at the age of 88.

According to Vatican news, Prevost was Born in Chicago in 1955 to parents of Spanish and Franco-Italian descent.

He spent his childhood and adolescence with his family and studied first at the Minor Seminary of the Augustinian Fathers and then at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where in 1977 he earned a Degree in Mathematics and also studied Philosophy. 

In his first statements shortly after being elected pontiff, Prevost remembered Pope Francis and thanked him, saying: “Let us keep in our ears the weak but always brave voice of Pope Francis, who blessed Rome - the Pope who blessed Rome and the world that day on the morning of Easter.”

“Allow me to continue that same blessing. God loves us, all of us, evil will not prevail,” The new Pope said standing on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, facing a huge crowd.