Habemus Papam - Leo XIV named first American pope
There's white smoke on St. Peter's Square (at 18:08 local time). Given the time it's probably been the fourth round of voting that yielded a positive result. You can watch the vatican media livestream here with english commentary and here without any commentary.
Thought I'd post this as a text post to keep it updated with relevant information (e.g. who it is) over the next hour or so.
The swiss guard has arrived on the square shortly after 18:30. If the previous two conclaves are anything to go by it'll be another 30 minutes or so until Cardinal Mamberti will step onto the balcony to announce the new pope's name.
Update 19:13: Mamberti has entered the balcony and is making his announcement (rewatch here):
Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum; habemus Papam:
Eminentissimum ac reverendissimum dominum, dominum Robertum Franciscum, Sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ Cardinalem Prevost, qui sibi nomen imposui Leonem XIV.
Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, is a US American by birth, but moved to Peru later on and became bishop there, making him the second pope from America and first ever US American to hold the title. He's generally viewed as a compromise candidate between progressives and conservatives within the catholic church as far as I know. He was created (as a cardinal) by pope francis and was responsible for personell management under him.
Update 19:23: Pope Leo XIV has entered the balcony and is making his first public statement (rewatch original here or with english subtitles here).
Update 19:40: After speaking for more than 10 minutes (a lot longer than his predrcessors during their first appearance) he's now issued the traditional blessing 'urbi et orbi' and has left the balcony.
First a declaration: I am not Catholic so anything I say should be taken with a grain of salt.
Not to be overly optimistic, but this seems like a very good result. I had some real concerns of the church snapping back to an arch-conservative, but Prevost is quite progressive (for a Catholic). He wasn't even on the list of Cardinals I thought were likely. Having been a leader of the Augustinians, he will hopefully have a focus on truth and learning. This also seems like a concession to the Americas - a native North American who has lived in South America for a long period of time, directly after another "New World" Pope seems like a strong message of the importance of Latin Americans.
I fully expected to see an African Pope at the end of this selection process.
Edit: @gpl pointed out below that the choice of "Leo" as a name is very significant.
Not trying to claim that paragraph, but thought it deserved to be at a top level comment for anyone skimming.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-pope-could-it-be-american-cardinal-robert-prevost/
"Cardinal George of Chicago, of happy memory, was one of my great mentors, and he said: 'Look, until America goes into political decline, there won't be an American pope.' And his point was, if America is kind of running the world politically, culturally, economically, they don't want America running the world religiously. So, I think there's some truth to that, that we're such a superpower and so dominant, they don't wanna give us, also, control over the church."
So US has been ruined enough by trump that it’s acceptable to have a pope from there.
From speaking with my Catholic in-laws, his politics are not so clear. They consider him TBD.
I want you to be right.
Most of what I have read so far indicates that this choice is likely meant to signal a continuation of Francis's reforms in substance, if not always in style. There are far far worse choices that could have come out of this conclave!
The more I've researched, and from talking with my (Catholic) wife, agreed! I was skeptical but this appears to be the first hopeful news of this godforsaken (see what I did there?) year.
That wasn't really a concern, Francis appointed most of the cardinals who were voting so they mostly shared his progressive beliefs.
107 of the 134 members of the conclave were appointed by Pope Francis, but I think as some of those very cardinals are the ones that I consider to be not at all progressive - indeed, Cardinal Sarah was one of the front runners, albeit still somewhat unlikely per the oddmakers - I think it's incorrect to say that there was no chance of a not progressive pope.
Heck, Pietro Parolin was the overall frontrunner and (imo) is likely less progressive than this guy.
I also never underestimate the power of groups of mostly old white men to do something obnoxiously stupid.
At this early stage, the only things we have to base speculations of his intentions on are his personal record of service under Francis and his choice of papal nomen. Though I'm about the furthest thing from an expert on Catholic history, I think both shed a little light on what sort of pope Leo XIV intends to be.
First, as Robert Prevost he had a hand in the personnel management of the Vatican under Francis, which I think augers somewhat positive things. Francis famously placed women in unprecedented roles in the Vatican's administration, and I think it unlikely that Francis would have elevated him to cardinal in that role if Prevost had been a hardline traditionalist in this regard. This isn't really saying a whole hell of a lot, since the Catholic Church is at minimum 50 years behind the times when it comes to gender equity (or about 1,900 years, depending on how you look at it), but it at least suggests he likely doesn't have intentions of undoing whatever modest progress Francis managed to achieve in this area. So this earns a mildly approving nod from me, not that anyone either in the Church or without asked for it nor cares.
His choice of papal nomen is slightly more interesting. I think it probably unlikely his choice of "Leo" is a nod to Leo I "the Great," since to my knowledge, there's no substantive christological debate going in Catholic theological circles, and Nicenism has been pretty firmly established in the sect for at least 1,500 years. I also doubt highly that Leo is itching to re-establish the death penalty for heresy, so on both counts I doubt Leo I was the inspiration for Prevost's choice. Likewise, Leo III–who crowned Charlemagne emperor–was probably not an inspiration either, much as a certain monarchist-adjacent demographic would wish he were.
Much more likely is his immediate nominal predecessor, Leo XIII, known by some as "the Workers' Pope" for his advocacy of trade unionism and workers' rights. Leo XIII held the office from 1878-1903, a period with some obvious resonances with our own in which the detriments of laissez-faire capitalism were becoming increasingly impossible for the Church to ignore. It was also the period in which socialism was developing from an abstract philosophical concept into a political and economic movement. Leo XIII attempted to walk the line between labor advocacy–maybe a political necessity at the time to secure the support of the majority of the laity–and socialism by leveling critiques at the latter alongside criticisms of laissez-faire capitalism. He was, in other words and by our standards at least, progressive without being radical, at least in matters of economics. [One might wonder at the rejection of socialism by the head of a church whose God commanded his followers to put all their worldly goods in common and follow Him, but I'm sure it made sense to old 13.]
His choice of "Leo XIV" seems consistent to me with an intention to carry on to some degree with the mildly progressive reforms of Francis, while reassuring the conservatives that he has no intention of leading a Red Catholic uprising–because it's apparently become the job of political figures to continually reassure conservatives that the sky is not, in fact, falling anytime soon, even when it clearly is. So, just the sort of compromise candidate one might expect after a supposedly radical Jesuit pope.
That's my completely non-expert and largely disinterested analysis of this dude's elevation, for all the nothing it's worth. The Church still has to contend with its history of shielding the priesthood from the consequences of abuse, its deeply entrenched and deeply fucked notions of sex and gender regarding the clergy, its dwindling membership among the laity and consequent diminishment of relevance, and, of course, just the state of the world generally. I wish Leo XIV as much luck as is fitting to extend to a man who actively desires a position of supreme authority over an organization that promotes so many theological and moral ideas I personally find repellant.
Good luck, and don't fuck it up, Father Bob.
Disinterested critiques are often the most helpful.
He seems very in line with Francis, which I take as hopeful
https://apnews.com/live/conclave-pope-catholic-church-updates-5-8-2025#00000196-b0e4-d51b-a7ff-b8e4bd490000
The new pope is the first American pope in history.
Wow. The first American pope. And he's from my hometown! Or birth city anyway: Chicago. Got a Midwesterner in charge of the Holy See. Regardless, I was shocked. I really thought I'd never see an American as a Pope. When my brother messaged me, "An American has become Pope," I thought a) he was joking or b )he wasn't and one of the hardline tradCath types was selected. Which would've been beyond disappointing.
Personally I was rooting for Cardinal Tagle (I'm Filipino). But it sounds like Leo XIV is largely expected to follow in Francis' footsteps. I think the Church is headed in the right direction (sure, there's always more that can be done), and I want to continue seeing it move that way.
Yeah, I've read the following about him:
Could've been a lot worse given the views some of his conservative hardliner colleagues. The last part is concerning though...
Also with regards to US politics he has critizised JD Vance on Twitter recently - so that's something.
On paper, this shouldn't mean anything to me. I turned my back on my Christian upbringing nearly 20 years ago now, and even then I grew up Protestant (Southern Baptist, god help me). But I can't help but be fascinated by this entire thing. I really liked Pope Francis. There are a lot of views he held that I'm opposed to (easy to guess which ones), but I feel like among all the popes in my lifetime, he was the most Christ-like. He was kind, he had empathy, he was humble. And while that's certainly not unique to Christianity (or Jesus), that's the stuff from my childhood religion that I carried with me into adulthood. That's the stuff I wish I could expect from Christians in the US today. That is the metric by which I judge Christians.
And I'm pleased to hear that Pope Leo seems like a continuation of that legacy. And there's a tiny bit of pride in there being an American pope for me. I don't actually care where the pope is from at all, but I'm very desperate for reasons to be proud of my home country these days.
My first concern upon hearing that he’s from the US is that “I hope he’s not MAGA“. I haven’t had time to determine that but he’s been to other countries and speaks multiple languages and was promoted by Pope Francis so I’m hopeful he’s not.
He's definitely not MAGA. He was bishop of Peru for a long time, and has posted/boosted things that were very critical of the current administration on social media. I'm not catholic and I don't pay a lot of attention to the popes, but it looks like this one will probably be fairly close to Francis on most things?
His wiki page has some concerning things under the "views" section.
I want to state at the outset that I agree that most of the views attributed to him on Wikipedia are problematic, and that what I am about to say is not any kind of defence of any of those views, which I find abhorrent. The views that I see are:
I find it personally hard to find any kind of common ground with people who have views like this, but these are views that are almost necessitated by being a member of the Catholic church; they're dogmatic. Unless something very wild happens, every Pope will think that marriage should be between a man and a woman, that men and women are the only gender options, and that women shouldn't be ordained. However, Pope Francis showed compassion to people who did not align with his views, and from what I know of Pope Leo, I believe he will also be compassionate.
He has seemed to be as progressive as it is possible to be while reaching the level within the Catholic Church that he has.
I agree with much of what you say here — when talking about the Catholic pope there is a limit to what can be expected. From what I have read, in his roles having to implement Francis’ reforms, he worked to install women on the committee that nominated bishops, and (less enthusiastically) worked to improve outreach to LGBTQ people. I’m not pretending that is great, but considering some of the other candidates, it could have been much worse.
Worth noting that his choosing of the name Leo is significant, as the last Leo we had was very pro labor and supportive of workers rights, and also formalized a lot of what is now known as Catholic social teaching. If his name is a nod to the last Leo that is a good sign.
I find no silver lining on the allegations that he has mishandling sec abuse cases — the only thing to be said is that he is now in a position of power to right past longs and I hope he does so.
The cynic in me says that mishandling of abuse cases is also a dogmatic part of the Catholic church and that if one were to look for a non-complicit priest, then we would be looking for a very, very long time, and he likely wouldn't be a bishop.
There's some unfortunate truth in that. Which is not meant to dismiss any mishandling he may have overseen, but as I said — now he is in a position to make things right, to the extent it can be done.
It is highly unlikely that the Roman Church will ever endorse women for leadership or same sex marriage. But what it could do-and this might even be more biblical than current ideology-is become very loose about who is a woman and who is a man.
Considering the current state of the catholic church I'm not convinced that the catholic church changing its definition of male/female is actually more likely to happen than women eventually getting more leadership roles within the church. Although Pope Francis hasn't implemented the step of allowing female deacons or other more drastic changes during his papacy, he has started to put some women in leadership roles, so one can at least hope that trend will eventually continue. It's still not a great situation overall, but when viewed in the context of where the catholic church was before it's at least been moving in the right direction.
Pope is still Catholic for sure, but I'd wait for a bit for the page to be vigorously updated and edited before getting a full picture of where he has been recently. I suspect that's going to be a bit of a process as folks go find everything he's ever said.
Hey, you're early for our annual Red Rising debate! That's not for several months. (You can mark this as a joke).
Hey now, I quit mid book 4 so...
You may take solace in the fact that this Pope has collectively caused MAGA to lose what passes for their minds. He is being referred to repeatedly as "woke marxist pope"
Ah yes, Karl "religion is the opiate of the masses" Marx.
If it weren't so soul crushing, the shit that MAGAs say would be hilarious.
He does not appear to have any such views. He's still Catholic, but he's been much more similar to Francis than someone like Cardinal Sarah.
I don't know if I'd call Sarah MAGA either but his social views are much more conservative.
I know Cardinal Sarah has to be a dude because of how Catholicism works, but because of the name whenever anyone refers to him I picture, like, a white suburban woman with a ponytail.
It's some major sexism that we refer to all the cardinals by their last names...except Cardinal Sarah.
It's quite the contrast from the Black Guinean man of reality! I think I know too much about him to get a fun mental image
3 of his 5 tweets in 2025 have been criticizing Trump and Vance.
First US pope isn't it? I suppose the Argentine->Peruvian/American bridge was short enough.
That's subtly correct. He was called “The second American pope, the first from the US” by most media in Italy (see Il Post or Repubblica, for example) and romance-language Europe, I think.
I think it's fair to say that he is the first pope from the US, but not the first pope from America. South and Latin are America, so is Canada, and so was Francis/Bergoglio. By now, I know this may definitely lead to some comments and debate, mostly from people in the US pointing out how we are the default America. People from the US (I'm one) just default to the synecdoche of representing the America.
Yeah, I'm with you on that one, despite the title suggesting otherwise. Didn't have any control over the specifics of the title change, since that was done by Deimos as part of the post merger and I can't edit it anymore. (For obvious reasons it only said Habemus Papam in the beginning, as the name announcement happened an hour later.)
His twitter is here https://xcancel.com/drprevost. Doesn't seem a huge fan of the current administration.
Pope Bob from Chicago.
After this Chicago Pope, I believe we are due for either the MLA Pope or an APA Pope.
or
Prevost, Robert F. Pope Leo XIV. Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
When I heard he chose the name Pope Leo my first thought was Popplio
Wow! A Pope from the US. Never in my life would I expect to see that. Growing up, all of the nuns and priests in school always told us it would never happen, the US has too much power and influence, etc. Yet, here we are.
Hopefully he continues to lead the faith in the right direction. Given some hard-line stances on certain issues, hopefully he will continue to be a good steward of the faith and make progressive changes the Church needs.
Its a weird way to think about it because the whole reason the Vatican is in Rome is the proximity to the then powers. But this seems like a very calculated move on all fronts. Specifically socially and politically. Because the church knows it needs to reform and that left a lot of the conservative, fundamentalist community they fostered ripe to be co-opted by movements that would not want to work with/under the church. Yes, Trump is a good innoculation to the MAGA philosophy for now, but there's still a ton of unaddressed social anxiety that people are taking out on minorities. And people can only punch down for so long before they start punching up.
But the adoption of the Leo name implies they recognize the growing resentment to equity issues and see it as a more appropriate way to resonate with the masses. There's also some solice in the fact that they do not see value in openly condoning far right movements and corporate interests but there's plenty closed doors and back rooms in the Vatican.
But I like to consider the most outlandish outcomes and it could be wild. Like a world thats straight out of some religions propaganda. Where the left-leaning reformed Catholic Church fills the void left by the government and actually executes in its functions. They can start with a non-profit heath insurance. Subsidising cut aid and research programs. Providing free essentials to entire cities. Get into rent-to-own medium density housing and transport. It's all fantastical thinking but if that was my reality, a 3 day weekend would definitely get me to go to church.
Well, shit. Hopefully this doesn't mean a reversal of Pope Francis' efforts to make the church more tolerant towards LGBT+ people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Leo_XIV#Views
Although the Wikipedia page is going through a ton of revisions right now... so I'm sure we'll learn more about him as more people start digging through his history. Hopefully they find some good in there too, because right now it's feeling a bit bleak, IMO.
He supported Francis’ approval of blessing same sex couples, and has indicated he intends to meet with German “Synodal way” bishops. For those unfamiliar with church politics, German bishops are actually among the most progressive, and the “Synodal way” refers to a new, less hierarchical view of the church promoted by Francis.
I do think that 2012 was a long time ago in the Church, and Francis’s more public compassion for LQBTQ issues has likely moved sentiment among some in the hierarchy.
Thanks for the info! That definitely makes me feel better about the choice.