Overview:
Robert Prevost, a Chicago native and longtime missionary in Peru, has been elected as the primary pope from the US, selecting the identify Leo XIV. Among the many electors was Haitian Cardinal Chibly Langlois, who made historical past as Haiti’s first cardinal to take part within the sacred conclave.
By NICOLE WINFIELD Related Press | Further reporting and enhancing by The Haitian Occasions
Replace, Could 9, 2025: The brother of Pope Leo XIV confirmed to The New York Occasions that Pope Leo XIV has Haitian ancestry by way of his maternal grandfather, who listed “Hayti” as his birthplace in U.S. census data. The pope’s household descends from Creole individuals of shade in New Orleans, a part of a broader migration that helped form Black Chicago—the place the pope was born in 1955. Joseph Martinez—Leo XIV’s grandfather—was born in Haiti and married in New Orleans in 1887.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Robert Prevost, a missionary who spent his profession ministering in Peru and took over the Vatican’s highly effective workplace of bishops, was elected the first pope from the US within the 2,000-year historical past of the Catholic Church.
Prevost, a 69-year-old member of the Augustinian spiritual order, took the identify Leo XIV.
In his first phrases as Pope Francis’ successor, uttered from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, Leo stated, “Peace be with you,” and emphasised a message of peace, dialogue and missionary evangelization. He wore the normal crimson cape of the papacy — a cape that Francis had eschewed on his election in 2013.
Prevost had been a number one candidate for the papacy, however there had lengthy been a taboo towards a U.S. pope, given the nation’s geopolitical energy already wielded within the secular sphere. However Prevost, a Chicago native, was seemingly eligible as a result of he’s additionally a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary after which as an archbishop.
Pope Francis clearly had his eye on Prevost and in some ways noticed him as his inheritor obvious. He introduced Prevost to the Vatican in 2023 to serve as the powerful head of the workplace that vets bishop nominations from all over the world, one of the crucial vital jobs within the Catholic Church. And in January he elevated him into the senior ranks of cardinals. Because of this, Prevost had a prominence going into the conclave that few different cardinals had.
The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers when white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel on the second day of the conclave. Monks made the signal of the cross and nuns wept as the group shouted “Viva il papa!”
Waving flags from all over the world, tens of 1000’s of individuals waited to study who had gained and have been shocked when an hour later, the senior cardinal deacon appeared on the loggia and stated “Habemus Papam!” and introduced the winner was Prevost.
He spoke to the group in Italian and Spanish, however not English.
The final pope to take the identify Leo was Leo XIII, an Italian who led the church from 1878 to 1903. That Leo softened the church’s confrontational stance towards modernity, particularly science and politics and laid the muse for contemporary Catholic social thought, most famously along with his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed staff’ rights and capitalism.
Haitian participation in a historic conclave
Amongst these casting ballots to elect Leo XIV was Haitian Cardinal Chibly Langlois, bishop of Les Cayes and the primary Haitian ever to participate in a papal conclave. His participation marked a historic milestone for Haiti, providing the Caribbean nation a voice in one of many Church’s most sacred choices.
Langlois’ vote underscored the growing illustration of leaders from marginalized and underrepresented areas, together with these like Haiti, which has lengthy confronted political instability and pure disasters. His function displays the Church’s ongoing dedication to elevating voices from the worldwide south, a shift championed by Pope Francis.
Pope Leo XIV’s election got here on the second day of the conclave, which started after the dying of Pope Francis final month. The conclave course of adopted centuries-old traditions, with cardinals writing their alternatives on paper ballots and sealing them in an urn earlier than the votes have been tallied.
Prevost succeeds Pope Francis, who was broadly identified for his efforts to modernize the Church and amplify the voices of poorer nations. Observers now watch carefully to see how Leo XIV will proceed or diverge from that path.