Robert Prevost Elected as New Catholic Pope, Becomes Pope Leo XIV

Cardinal Robert Prevost has been elected as the new pope of the Catholic Church.

The Details: Now known as Leo XIV, the first American pontiff in history addressed a large crowd in Vatican City on Thursday evening, opening his remarks by saying, "Peace be with all of you."

Who is Prevost? The 69-year-old was born in Chicago and is of Peruvian-American descent. He spent significant time in Peru as a missionary, and has also served as head of the Catholic Church's Order of St. Augustine. In 2023, Pope Francis chose him to lead the office that considers global bishop nominations. 

How Will He Approach His Papacy? Outlets varied in how they characterized Leo XIV, but most often as a continuation of Francis's somewhat progressive legacy. According to CBS News (Lean Left bias), "Prevost is seen as a progressive on many social issues. Overall, many view him as a centrist. Like Pope Francis, Prevost has spent time embracing marginalized groups such as the poor." His tenure will "be similar in terms of basic goals" to that of Pope Francis, a former colleague of Prevost's told CBS. "The kind of style he would bring to the papacy would be calm, steady, very direct kind of guidance."

How the Media Covered It: The cardinals who elected Prevost "looked past allegations that he had mishandled or failed to act on sexual abuse cases involving priests in both Peru and the United States," according to Washington Post (Lean Left). His "positions on some issues within the Church are largely unknown, but he is thought to be close to Francis’s views on the environment," the National Review News (Lean Right) wrote. "He recently amplified Francis’s denunciation of Catholic U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s use of the Ordo Amoris to defend the Trump administration’s policy of mass deportations."

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