HABEMUS PAPAM!
Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum
Early this afternoon (eastern time), white smoke poured out of the smoke stack of Sistine Chapel in Rome, signalling to the world that the cardinal electors had selected the next pope.
Later, Cardinal Dominique Mamberti appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to announce to the world: We have a pope.
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, O.S.A. had been selected, accepted the position, and chosen the name Leo XIV.
He emerged roughly an hour later to greet the world and provide his urbi et orbi blessing.
Pope Leo XIV is an Augustinian from Chicago, Illinois. He served in Peru from 1985 to 1998. He the returned to the United States and was elected in 2001 by his brother Augustinians to serve as the general of the order. In 2013, he was appointed by Pope Francis to be the bishop of Chiclayo, Peru and he held that see until 2023. At that time, he was named a cardinal by Pope Francis and appointed Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. He is sixty-nine years old and is the sixth Augustinian to serve as pope.
