Pope Leo XIV elected: Live updates after Cardinal Prevost named 1st American pontiff by conclave

A new pope has been elected. Robert Francis Prevost, the first American pope, has been selected by the papal conclave to take over as leader of the 1.4 billion-member Roman Catholic Church.
The new pontiff, who has taken the name Leo XIV, was chosen on day 2 of the conclave. It came over two weeks after the death of Pope Francis at age 88.
Prevost, 69, is a Chicago-born cardinal who previously served in Peru for two decades.
Just after 6 p.m. local time in Vatican City (noon ET), white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel chimney as bells rang, which symbolized that the conclave had reached the two-thirds majority necessary for a new pope.
Previous votes, which resulted in black smoke coming from the chapel, meant that a vote was inconclusive and did not reach a decision.
The papal conclave began on May 7 with 133 electors, the largest number of voting cardinals in history.
A crowd of more than 10,000 people had gathered in St. Peter's Square on Thursday to await the results of the votes.
The newly elected pope appeared on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, where he was introduced to the world.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni provided the following schedule for the new pope's next few days:
Friday: Pope Leo XIV will celebrate Mass at 11 a.m. local time at the Sistine Chapel.
Sunday: He will deliver his first Sunday blessing at noon from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica.
Monday: The new pope will speak with journalists in the Vatican auditorium.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres extended his "heartfelt congratulations" to newly elected Pope Leo XIV and to Catholics around the world during a time of "great global challenges."
"Our world is in need of the strongest voices for peace, social justice, human dignity and compassion," he said in a Thursday statement.
"I look forward to building on the long legacy of cooperation between the United Nations and the Holy See — nurtured most recently by Pope Francis — to advance solidarity, foster reconciliation, and build a just and sustainable world for all."
We live in a time when you can bet on just about anything. So it's no surprise that a whole lot of gamblers put their money on the line trying to predict who would become the next pope. For betting markets, the conclave's decision to name American Cardinal Robert Prevost as the Catholic Church's new leader was an upset at a scale that almost never happens in sports.
In the hours before the selection was announced, Prevost was listed on the popular betting site Polymarket as having a 0.6% chance of being named the next pope. That put him far behind the two favorites, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, who had 62% and 25% odds, respectively.
JUST IN: AMERICAN POPE ROBERT FRANCIS PREVOST HAS BEEN ANNOUNCEDNobody saw that coming.From 0 to 100 in an instant. pic.twitter.com/HtBhpcyh3S
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) May 8, 2025
During the weeks following Pope Francis's death, Prevost's odds of being chosen never rose higher than 2.1%, meaning the worst anyone who bet on him could do was make 98 cents for every dollar they wagered.
Some bettors made huge profits when their long-shot bets came in. Polymarket shared the results for one user who raked in more than $63,000 on a $1,000 bet. A different betting site called Kalshi shared that one of its users made more than $52,000 after putting $526 down for Prevost to win.
The conclave, the centuries-old process used to elect a pope, is notoriously secretive. But the Vatican has released a couple of images from inside the Sistine Chapel following Pope Leo's election on Thursday. They show him standing in front of the cardinal electors beneath Michelangelo's Last Judgment.
Prevost, 69, was born in Chicago on Sept. 14, 1955. In addition to English, the new pope speaks Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese; he can read Latin and German.
He is the first Augustinian pope, according to the Vatican, which means he belongs to a Catholic order known for its commitment to community and sharing.
Prevost attended secondary school at an Augustinian seminary and officially joined the order in 1977. In between, he earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at Villanova University.
Prevost went on to spend much of his adult life abroad, in Peru.
From 1999 to 2014, Prevost worked in Chicago, where he first led the city's Augustinian Province and then served two six-year terms as head of the Augustinians. Like other cardinals, he has been criticized for his dealings there with priests accused of sexual abuse.
Read more from Yahoo News reporter Andrew Romano: Who is Robert Francis Prevost, the new Pope Leo XIV?
Pope Leo XIV will soon take over the @pontifex account on X, like his predecessors. But Robert Prevost, the newly elected pope, was already fairly active on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
He joined in 2011. His most recent post, dated April 14, is a reshare of an X post that is critical of the Trump administration's deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a U.S. citizen, to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
Another post dated Feb. 13 links to an essay by Pope Francis speaking out against the Trump administration's treatment of immigrants.
Pope Francis' letter, JD Vance's 'ordo amoris' and what the Gospel asks of all of us on immigration https://t.co/Ikk8gqOMzn
— Robert Prevost (@drprevost) February 13, 2025
And a post dated Feb. 3 shares the link of an op-ed in the National Catholic Reporter titled "JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others."
JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others https://t.co/hDKPKuMXmu via @NCRonline
— Robert Prevost (@drprevost) February 3, 2025
Trump and Vance, though, were congratulatory while reacting to the news of the first U.S.-born pope.
Congratulations to Leo XIV, the first American Pope, on his election! I'm sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church. May God bless him!
— JD Vance (@JDVance) May 8, 2025
"Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!"
In a social media post, former President Barack Obama congratulated fellow Chicagoan Robert Prevost for being elected the new pontiff, calling it a "historic day."
Michelle and I send our congratulations to a fellow Chicagoan, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV. This is a historic day for the United States, and we will pray for him as he begins the sacred work of leading the Catholic Church and setting an example for so many, regardless of faith.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 8, 2025
Usually, within a week of a new pontiff being elected, a ceremonial Mass is held either in St. Peter's Square or the basilica to formally install the new pope.
In attendance at the Mass will be cardinals, bishops and other international dignitaries.
Modern ceremonies are more modest and have abandoned much of the pageantry once involved, like crowning the new pope with a three-tiered headdress.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square to see and hear from Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Prevost.
Here's a view of the crowd via Reuters photographer Murad Sezer.
In his first remarks after being chosen as the new pontiff today, Pope Leo XIV outlined his vision for the Catholic Church.
"We have to seek together to be a missionary church. A church that builds bridges and dialogue," he said, according to an English translation of his remarks, which were mostly in Italian. He also called on people to "show our charity" to others "and be in dialog with love."
He also paid tribute to the late Pope Francis, saying: "Let us keep in our ears the weak voice of Pope Francis that blesses Rome. The Pope who blessed Rome, gave his blessing to the entire world that morning of Easter. Allow me to follow up on that blessing. God loves us. God loves everyone. Evil will not prevail."
President Trump welcomed the news of the first American pope and congratulated Cardinal Robert Prevost in a post on social media, writing:
"Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope. It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!"
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost is the 14th pontiff to carry the name Leo as head of the Catholic church. There have been more than 250 popes altogether, and some names have been reused many times. Thanks to the new pope, Leo now moves into a tie for fourth most-common papal name with Clement. The only names used more times than Leo are Benedict (15 times), Gregory (16 times) and John (21 times).
We're quickly learning more about Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Prevost, the first American to be elected pontiff.
Prevost, 69, was born in Chicago but spent more than two decades in Peru, where he became a bishop and a naturalized citizen, according to the New York Times.
He rose through the religious ranks from there, running the Vatican office that selects and manages bishops around the world. He was made a cardinal by Pope Francis less than two years ago.
He speaks Spanish and Italian and is "often described as reserved and discreet," the New York Times reported.
Pope Leo XIV stepped out on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican before a massive cheering crowd on Thursday and looked visibly emotional. His first words as pope were, "Peace be with you."
Robert Francis Prevost, a Chicago-born cardinal who previously served in Peru, was named the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday following the conclave's decisive vote. He is the first American pope.
Cardinal Dominique Mamberti made the announcement from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica.
Mamberti also announced Prevost's chosen papal name: Pope Leo.
The crowd in St. Peter's Square continues to grow as they wait for the new pope to appear.
More than 10,000 had gathered at the Vatican when white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney, touching off celebrations among the faithful. And thousands more have arrived since in anticipation of the announcement.
Here are some photos of the reactions in and around the Vatican.
As the white smoke clears from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel, attention now shifts to the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, where the new pope will be introduced.
Yahoo News breaks down three things the pope does the first day on the job:
Here's what it looked like from St. Peter's Square (video via Vatican News)
Habemus Papam! pic.twitter.com/dj93LBznB1
— Vatican News (@vaticannews_pt) May 8, 2025
The 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church will soon appear on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, where his identity and his chosen papal name will be revealed to the world.
Before that, the new pope will be led to the "Room of Tears," a small room next to the Sistine Chapel, where he dons the white papal vestments for the first time," according to Vatican News, the official publication of the Vatican.
He then return to the Sistine Chapel for a brief ceremony and introduction.
"Afterwards, all the Cardinal electors, in order of precedence, come forward to greet the new Pope and pledge their obedience to him," per the Vatican news.
The announcement on the loggia of St. Peter's will be made by Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, the protodeacon of the College of Cardinals, who will begin with a simple message:
"I announce you a great joy: We have a pope!"
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni provided the following schedule for the new pope's next few days:
Friday: Pope Leo XIV will celebrate Mass at 11 a.m. local time at the Sistine Chapel.
Sunday: He will deliver his first Sunday blessing at noon from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica.
Monday: The new pope will speak with journalists in the Vatican auditorium.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres extended his "heartfelt congratulations" to newly elected Pope Leo XIV and to Catholics around the world during a time of "great global challenges."
"Our world is in need of the strongest voices for peace, social justice, human dignity and compassion," he said in a Thursday statement.
"I look forward to building on the long legacy of cooperation between the United Nations and the Holy See — nurtured most recently by Pope Francis — to advance solidarity, foster reconciliation, and build a just and sustainable world for all."
We live in a time when you can bet on just about anything. So it's no surprise that a whole lot of gamblers put their money on the line trying to predict who would become the next pope. For betting markets, the conclave's decision to name American Cardinal Robert Prevost as the Catholic Church's new leader was an upset at a scale that almost never happens in sports.
In the hours before the selection was announced, Prevost was listed on the popular betting site Polymarket as having a 0.6% chance of being named the next pope. That put him far behind the two favorites, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, who had 62% and 25% odds, respectively.
JUST IN: AMERICAN POPE ROBERT FRANCIS PREVOST HAS BEEN ANNOUNCEDNobody saw that coming.From 0 to 100 in an instant. pic.twitter.com/HtBhpcyh3S
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) May 8, 2025
During the weeks following Pope Francis's death, Prevost's odds of being chosen never rose higher than 2.1%, meaning the worst anyone who bet on him could do was make 98 cents for every dollar they wagered.
Some bettors made huge profits when their long-shot bets came in. Polymarket shared the results for one user who raked in more than $63,000 on a $1,000 bet. A different betting site called Kalshi shared that one of its users made more than $52,000 after putting $526 down for Prevost to win.
The conclave, the centuries-old process used to elect a pope, is notoriously secretive. But the Vatican has released a couple of images from inside the Sistine Chapel following Pope Leo's election on Thursday. They show him standing in front of the cardinal electors beneath Michelangelo's Last Judgment.
Prevost, 69, was born in Chicago on Sept. 14, 1955. In addition to English, the new pope speaks Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese; he can read Latin and German.
He is the first Augustinian pope, according to the Vatican, which means he belongs to a Catholic order known for its commitment to community and sharing.
Prevost attended secondary school at an Augustinian seminary and officially joined the order in 1977. In between, he earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at Villanova University.
Prevost went on to spend much of his adult life abroad, in Peru.
From 1999 to 2014, Prevost worked in Chicago, where he first led the city's Augustinian Province and then served two six-year terms as head of the Augustinians. Like other cardinals, he has been criticized for his dealings there with priests accused of sexual abuse.
Read more from Yahoo News reporter Andrew Romano: Who is Robert Francis Prevost, the new Pope Leo XIV?
Pope Leo XIV will soon take over the @pontifex account on X, like his predecessors. But Robert Prevost, the newly elected pope, was already fairly active on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
He joined in 2011. His most recent post, dated April 14, is a reshare of an X post that is critical of the Trump administration's deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a U.S. citizen, to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
Another post dated Feb. 13 links to an essay by Pope Francis speaking out against the Trump administration's treatment of immigrants.
Pope Francis' letter, JD Vance's 'ordo amoris' and what the Gospel asks of all of us on immigration https://t.co/Ikk8gqOMzn
— Robert Prevost (@drprevost) February 13, 2025
And a post dated Feb. 3 shares the link of an op-ed in the National Catholic Reporter titled "JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others."
JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others https://t.co/hDKPKuMXmu via @NCRonline
— Robert Prevost (@drprevost) February 3, 2025
Trump and Vance, though, were congratulatory while reacting to the news of the first U.S.-born pope.
Congratulations to Leo XIV, the first American Pope, on his election! I'm sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church. May God bless him!
— JD Vance (@JDVance) May 8, 2025
"Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!"
In a social media post, former President Barack Obama congratulated fellow Chicagoan Robert Prevost for being elected the new pontiff, calling it a "historic day."
Michelle and I send our congratulations to a fellow Chicagoan, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV. This is a historic day for the United States, and we will pray for him as he begins the sacred work of leading the Catholic Church and setting an example for so many, regardless of faith.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 8, 2025
Usually, within a week of a new pontiff being elected, a ceremonial Mass is held either in St. Peter's Square or the basilica to formally install the new pope.
In attendance at the Mass will be cardinals, bishops and other international dignitaries.
Modern ceremonies are more modest and have abandoned much of the pageantry once involved, like crowning the new pope with a three-tiered headdress.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square to see and hear from Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Prevost.
Here's a view of the crowd via Reuters photographer Murad Sezer.
In his first remarks after being chosen as the new pontiff today, Pope Leo XIV outlined his vision for the Catholic Church.
"We have to seek together to be a missionary church. A church that builds bridges and dialogue," he said, according to an English translation of his remarks, which were mostly in Italian. He also called on people to "show our charity" to others "and be in dialog with love."
He also paid tribute to the late Pope Francis, saying: "Let us keep in our ears the weak voice of Pope Francis that blesses Rome. The Pope who blessed Rome, gave his blessing to the entire world that morning of Easter. Allow me to follow up on that blessing. God loves us. God loves everyone. Evil will not prevail."
President Trump welcomed the news of the first American pope and congratulated Cardinal Robert Prevost in a post on social media, writing:
"Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope. It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!"
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost is the 14th pontiff to carry the name Leo as head of the Catholic church. There have been more than 250 popes altogether, and some names have been reused many times. Thanks to the new pope, Leo now moves into a tie for fourth most-common papal name with Clement. The only names used more times than Leo are Benedict (15 times), Gregory (16 times) and John (21 times).
We're quickly learning more about Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Prevost, the first American to be elected pontiff.
Prevost, 69, was born in Chicago but spent more than two decades in Peru, where he became a bishop and a naturalized citizen, according to the New York Times.
He rose through the religious ranks from there, running the Vatican office that selects and manages bishops around the world. He was made a cardinal by Pope Francis less than two years ago.
He speaks Spanish and Italian and is "often described as reserved and discreet," the New York Times reported.
Pope Leo XIV stepped out on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican before a massive cheering crowd on Thursday and looked visibly emotional. His first words as pope were, "Peace be with you."
Robert Francis Prevost, a Chicago-born cardinal who previously served in Peru, was named the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday following the conclave's decisive vote. He is the first American pope.
Cardinal Dominique Mamberti made the announcement from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica.
Mamberti also announced Prevost's chosen papal name: Pope Leo.
The crowd in St. Peter's Square continues to grow as they wait for the new pope to appear.
More than 10,000 had gathered at the Vatican when white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney, touching off celebrations among the faithful. And thousands more have arrived since in anticipation of the announcement.
Here are some photos of the reactions in and around the Vatican.
As the white smoke clears from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel, attention now shifts to the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, where the new pope will be introduced.
Yahoo News breaks down three things the pope does the first day on the job:
Here's what it looked like from St. Peter's Square (video via Vatican News)
Habemus Papam! pic.twitter.com/dj93LBznB1
— Vatican News (@vaticannews_pt) May 8, 2025
The 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church will soon appear on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, where his identity and his chosen papal name will be revealed to the world.
Before that, the new pope will be led to the "Room of Tears," a small room next to the Sistine Chapel, where he dons the white papal vestments for the first time," according to Vatican News, the official publication of the Vatican.
He then return to the Sistine Chapel for a brief ceremony and introduction.
"Afterwards, all the Cardinal electors, in order of precedence, come forward to greet the new Pope and pledge their obedience to him," per the Vatican news.
The announcement on the loggia of St. Peter's will be made by Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, the protodeacon of the College of Cardinals, who will begin with a simple message:
"I announce you a great joy: We have a pope!"

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