A new pope has been chosen. White smoke rises from the Sistine Chapel

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Friday, May 23, 2025

08/05/2025

VATICAN, May 8: White smoke is pouring out of the Sistine Chapel chimney, signalling that a pope has been elected to lead the Catholic Church.

That means the winner secured at least 89 votes of the 133 cardinals participating in the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis. The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers. The name will be announced later, when a top cardinal utters the words “Habemus papam!” Latin for “We have a pope!” from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. The cardinal then reads the winner’s birth name in Latin, and reveals the name he has chosen to be called.

The new pope is then expected to make his first public appearance and impart a blessing from the same loggia.

Robert Prevost is now Pope Leo XIV

Cardinal Robert Prevost, an American missionary who spent his career ministering in Peru and leads the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops, was elected the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church.

Prevost, 69, took the name Leo XIV.