First American Pope will be known as Pope Leo XIV

Robert Francis Prevost is the first elected Pope from the United States who will now be known as Pope Leo XIV.

A moderate who was close to Pope Francis and spent years as a missionary in Peru, he becomes the Catholic Church’s 267th pontiff. Pope Leo XIV is from Chicago and is fairly young for a Pope, at the age of 69.

He addressed the crowd this evening at St Peter’s Square paying tribute to his predecessor, Pope Francis, as he says he wants to deliver his own blessing to the people as Pope Francis did in his last appearance in St Peter’s Square.

Pope Leo XIV then thanked the cardinals who elected him during the two-day Conclave in both Italian and Spanish.