The first American pope has been elected. Cardinal Robert Prevost will go by Pope Leo XIV after being elected on only the second day of the conclave.
White smoke appeared at around noon Eastern Time from the Sistine Chapel chimney to signal that a pope had been elected. Thousands of people from all over the world gathered at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to hear his first address to the world.
The 69-year-old from Chicago worked for a decade in Peru before serving as a bishop there for nine years.
Pope Francis appointed approximately 80 percent of the cardinals in the conclave, so their decision to elect Pope Leo XIV wasn’t much of a surprise to Raymond Haberski, professor of history at Indiana University Indianapolis. He said the name and clothing Pope Leo XIV chose demonstrates that he could be an extension of former Pope Francis, who focused on love and peace.
“You could say that he is as much really a religious leader outside the United States,” he said. “He was very close to Francis. He was somebody that helped choose bishops for the papacy. So I think in many ways, he's been a member of the larger church, not the American church.”
Haberski said he sees the election of Pope Leo XIV as a “safe choice.” He wasn’t one of the primary front-runners that gained much attention leading up to today.
“He doesn't have a huge personality,” Haberski said. “There's not a lot of statements that you can point to and say, this is what he's all about. He has not put himself out in front of audiences and crowds very much…it's nice to have somebody who people don't think they already know what he's going to say, right? So he's able to sort of shape an agenda or respond to things in a way that he can control.”
While Haberski said he didn’t expect an American to be elected, he said Pope Leo XIV’s experience abroad will help him gain prominence as a religious leader.
“The Catholic Pope stands as a representative of a certain type of morality, a check on human behavior,” he said. “And I think we're going to see him make some statements and perhaps intervene in ways that are going to be, I think going to be very useful to the prospect of peace.”
The communications team for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis said priests would not provide interviews until the archbishop spoke in a press conference.
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