New Pope Leo XIV – what we all know to this point
Jakub Krupa
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69-year-old US cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has been elected as Pope Leo XIV, prompted celebration and delight amongst greater than 100,000 pilgrims and vacationers in St Peter’s Sq..
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The moderate, Chicago-born cardinal was given senior roles by Pope Francis, and has important missionary expertise in Peru having served as bishop of the northern metropolis of Chiclayo.
That’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, however Marina Dunbar will information you thru the night in Rome with the newest updates.
Key occasions
Dan Collyns
Peru’s president, Dina Boluarte, hailed the “historic” election of Leo XIV, whom she described as a Peruvian “by selection and conviction” who had devoted greater than 20 years of service to the nation. She added that Prevost, 69, “selected to be one in all us, to reside amongst us and to hold in his coronary heart the religion, tradition and desires of this nation”.
She added: “The pope is Peruvian; God loves Peru.”
Even so, Prevost has spoken out in opposition to Boluarte’s authorities previously. In early 2023, he described his “disappointment and ache” over the deaths of 49 protesters in anti-government demonstrations that erupted when President Boluarte took workplace in December 2022, changing Pedro Castillo who was pressured out for attempting to suspend congress.
On the time Prevost stated the unrest mirrored the historic neglect of Peru’s poor, saying: “This battle doesn’t signify the most effective of the nation.”
Pope Leo additionally known as on late former president Alberto Fujimori, who was jailed in 2009 for human rights abuses and corruption to say sorry from every of his authorities’s victims with a view to start a technique of reconciliation.
His suggestion got here simply two days after Fujimori was given a presidential pardon as part of a political deal and launched a video with a half-hearted apology. Prevost pointedly urged “it will be more practical to say sorry, personally, for among the nice injustices that have been dedicated and for which he was tried and sentenced”.
The controversial ex-leader was despatched again to jail in 2018, solely to be pardoned again in 2023 amid road protests. He died in 2024 and was given a state funeral.
Dan Collyns
As information of Leo’s election started to sink in, social media in Peru was flooded with memes of the pope consuming ceviche, Peru’s flagship dish, and ingesting Inca Kola, its bubblegum-flavoured smooth drink.
Others confirmed him in Peru’s red-and-white soccer shirt and one other humorous picture confirmed the popemobile refashioned as a three-wheeled bike rickshaw, the principal mode of transport in a lot of the nation.
Some posts on social media jokingly claimed that the brand new pope was “extra Latino than the whole forged of Emilia Pérez”, referencing the French movie that sparked controversy over its portrayal of Mexico.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has known as on the brand new Pope Leo XIV to pursue the “peace efforts” of his predecessor Francis, in an official assertion.
Abbas despatched “greatest needs for the success of Pope Leo XIV within the pursuit of his noble job and sustaining the legacy of the late Pope Francis,” stated the assertion.
Abbas highlighted the “significance of the ethical, non secular and political position of the Vatican within the defence of simply causes”, including that “the Palestinian folks and their proper to liberty and independence” ought to be on the prime.
Pope Francis had been a critic of Israel’s battle on Gaza and had known as the Holy Household Church in Gaza Metropolis day by day after the battle started till his demise.
Shortly after his demise it was revealed that Francis had authorised the conversion of his popemobile right into a cell well being clinic to deal with kids in Gaza.
Pope Leo XIV fell in love with Peru and its signature dish of uncooked seafood, ceviche, over his practically 20 years within the nation, his successor as bishop of the northern metropolis of Chiclayo has stated stated. AFP reviews:
“He beloved goat, duck with rice and ceviche, these have been his favorite dishes,” Chiclayo’s present bishop Edison Farfan instructed a press convention.
He added that there have been pictures in Chiclayo of him driving a horse.
Farfan recalled Prevost’s beginnings in Peru as a missionary within the northern city of Chulucanas, contemporary out of college in the USA.
From there he moved to the coastal metropolis of Trujillo, the place he helped arrange an Augustinian seminary, earlier than lastly winding up within the far northern metropolis of Chiclayo, the place he was ordained a bishop in 2015, Farfan stated.
Leo gave “his entire life to the mission in Peru,” Farfan stated, including that the brand new pontiff, like his Argentine predecessor Francis, was significantly pushed by poverty and by folks dwelling on the “periphery” of society.
Anna Betts
The web exploded with humor and Chicago satisfaction on Thursday following the historic announcement that Robert Francis Prevost, a 69-year-old American clergyman from Chicago, has been named the brand new pope.
The Chicago mayor, Brandon Johnson, celebrated the moment on social media, posting:
Every thing dope, together with the Pope, comes from Chicago! Congratulations to the primary American Pope Leo XIV! We hope to welcome you again house quickly.
Different customers requested for “pictures of the brand new pope at the Bean” Chicago’s well-known sculpture, whereas MSNBC’s Chris Hayes wondered whether or not the pope was a Chicago Cubs fan, as others requested if he was a White Sox fan.
One X user joked: “In honor of Chicago’s personal Pope Leo XIV, the White Sox announce the brand new ‘White Smoke Shake’ that will probably be served in a commemorative pope hat.” One other poked enjoyable on the Chicago Bears American Football team, writing: “Chicago produced a pope earlier than a QB who throws for 4,000 yards.”
Others referenced Chicago’s well-known deep dish pizza, joking in regards to the pope serving deep dish pizza and to ask whether the new pope thinks that Chicago or Rome have better pizza.
The UN’s secretary common, António Guterres, has supplied his “heartfelt” congratulations to Pope Leo XIV and Catholics all over the world.
“Our world is in want of the strongest voices for peace, social justice, human dignity [and] compassion,” the UN chief posted to X.
I sit up for constructing on the lengthy legacy of cooperation between the UN and the Holy See to advance solidarity, foster reconciliation & construct a simply and sustainable world for all.
Robert Francis Prevost: the average, good humoured first American pope
Sam Jones
Robert Francis Prevost – who has chosen the papal identify Leo XIV – will not be the Latin American Jesuit wildcard that his predecessor, Pope Francis, was, however his election is equally historic.
Within the determine of the 69-year-old former head of the Augustinian order, the Roman Catholic church has its very first US chief.
Till Thursday night, the thought of the fisherman’s ring being slipped on to a North American hand was seen as a reasonably distant risk.
The Vatican’s longstanding opposition to a US pope stemmed largely from the optics of getting a pontiff from a political superpower and a rustic with such a hegemonic cultural and secular international affect.
However all that modified after a brief conclave that selected a person who had been a cardinal for under a little bit greater than two years.
Whereas his appointment is prone to be welcomed by progressive factions throughout the church, it was in all probability not the information that a few of his extra conservative, Trump-aligned US brother cardinals had been hoping for.
Read the full profile: Robert Francis Prevost: the moderate, good humoured first American pope
Canada’s newly elected prime minister, Mark Carney, has known as the pope’s election a “historic day for Catholics and all who look to the Vatican for steering”.
A training Catholic, Carney stated he supplied his “prayers and greatest needs” to Pope Leo XIV, including:
At a time of world challenges, could his hold forth carry ahead a mission of solidarity, compassion, and dignity for all.
A London LGBT+ religion group has welcomed the election of Robert Francis Prevost as Pope Leo XIV and stated it hopes he has “moved on” from previous remarks where he criticised the “homosexual lifestyle”.
As we reported earlier, Prevost stated in a 2012 deal with to the world Synod of Bishops that “Western mass media is very efficient in fostering inside most people huge sympathy for beliefs and practices which might be at odds with the Gospel — for instance abortion, gay life-style, euthanasia”.
“We belief he will probably be open to hearken to the lived expertise of LGBT+ Catholics, their dad and mom and households,” the assertion by the LGBT+ Catholics Westminster Pastoral Council reads.
Opinions and concepts can change, and he supported Pope Francis’ change in pastoral follow to permit divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to obtain Holy Communion, and he confirmed assist for Fiducia Supplicans, permitting blessings for same-sex {couples}.
He has expressed openness to marginalized teams, although his stance on particular points stays ambiguous, together with the issues of LGBT+ Catholics.
Jason Rodrigues
Within the early hours of 20 February 1878, following a 3rd poll, the door of the bottom gallery of the Vatican Basilica was thrown open and Italian-born Cardinal Pecci was introduced because the successor to Pope Pius IX.
In accordance with our Particular Correspondent, the brand new Pope’s first look gave the sign for the ‘most vociferous cheering’, the Rome crowd taking on the shout and crying “lengthy reside the Pope”.
Readers have been additionally instructed that the brand new Pope, who had chosen Leo out of admiration for Pope Leo XII, was a “man of average views in non secular issues, although of distinguished piety, mixed with nice power and character…”
Leo XIII’s papacy lasted till his demise in 1903, making him one of many longest-serving Popes.
Biographers later noted that he “introduced a brand new spirit to the papacy, expressed in additional conciliatory positions towards civil governments, by much less opposition to scientific progress, and by an consciousness of the pastoral and social wants of the occasions.”
Listed here are some photographs from the newswires exhibiting how folks from all over the world cheered the election of Robert Francis Prevost, now often called Pope Leo XIV.
Abstract of the day to this point
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A brand new pope is elected. US cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, will probably be often called Pope Leo XIV. It’s been an extended whereas since we had a pope with this identify: final Leo, Leo XIII, was elected in 1878 and served till his demise in 1903.
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In his first feedback after his election, Pope Leo XIV preached a message of “unity” and of “transferring ahead”. He stated he desires this message of peace to “enter your hearts, to succeed in your households and all folks, wherever they’re.”
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Many shared their pleasure at having an American pope, and particularly a pope born in Chicago. Metropolis mayor Brandon Johnson tweeted “Every thing dope, together with the Pope, comes from Chicago” and former US president Barack Obama congratulated the “fellow Chicagoan” on social media.
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US president Donald Trump stated he was “stunned” however that it’s a “nice honor” to have an American pope. World leaders from a number of nations together with Italy, Spain, Greece, Ukraine, Peru and the United Kingdom have supplied their congratulations.
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An account on X extensively believed to belong to the brand new pope reveals him to be considerably crucial of the Trump administration. The account posted two articles that took difficulty with the stance by JD Vance, additionally a Catholic, on immigration. One article was headlined “JD Vance is flawed: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”
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In a 2012 deal with to the world Synod of Bishops, Father Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV appeared to criticize homosexuality, saying “Western mass media is very efficient in fostering inside most people huge sympathy for beliefs and practices which might be at odds with the Gospel — for instance abortion, gay life-style, euthanasia”.
