Habemus Papam! We Have a Pope!

We rejoice with Catholics in America and across the world in the election of our new pope, the former Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost. For the first time in its 2,000-year history, the 1.4 billion-member worldwide Catholic Church will be led by an American.

Pope Leo XIV, 69, a native of Chicago, succeeds Pope Francis, who served from March 13, 2013, until his death on Easter Monday, April 21.

The new pope was ordained in 1977 as a priest of the Augustinian Order. He is a graduate of Villanova University and studied for the priesthood at Catholic Theological Union of Chicago.

Pope Leo, the 267th pope in a line of apostolic succession beginning with St. Peter, was elected on the second day of voting by 133 cardinals from around the world meeting in a conclave at the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. The white smoke signifying a new pope rose at approximately 12:08 EST.

Cheers rang out as the huge crowd gathering in St. Peter’s Square shouted, “Viva al papa!”

Appearing shortly after his election to speak to the many in St. Peter’s Square and millions watching across the globe, the first words of Pope Leo XIV were “Peace be with you.”

The new pope went on to say “God loves us, all of us, evil will not prevail. We are all in the hands of God. Without fear, united, hand in hand with God and among ourselves, we will go forward.”

“We are disciples of Christ, Christ goes before us, and the world needs His light.”

His namesake, Pope Leo XIII, who was pontiff from 1878 to 1903, was known for his major contributions to social doctrine. His encyclical Rerum Novarum, a cornerstone of Catholic social teaching, addressed issues such as fair wages, working conditions and the right to form trade unions.

Before his election, Pope Leo XIV had most recently served, since 2023, as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, an influential Vatican post that placed him in touch with bishops the world over. He served many years early in his priesthood in Peru, where he also holds citizenship. He served as parish pastor, diocesan official, and seminary teacher and administrator. He later returned to serve as Bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, from 2015 to 2023. He also was Prior General of the Augustinians, for two six-year terms, from 2001 to 2013.  

For a year, beginning in 2013, he served in Chicago as director of formation in the Convent of St. Augustine and as first councilor and provincial vicar of the Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel, covering the midwestern United States.

He holds a doctorate in canon law from Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome.

Catholic Charities of Long Island joyfully joins Catholics and others of good will throughout the world in praying for the ministry of Pope Leo XIV, the Vicar of Christ on earth.