Alex Trelinski
POPE Leo XIV is holding his first holy mass as pontiff this Friday morning at the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City.
69-year-old Robert Provost from Chicago was not seen as a frontrunner but quickly secured the required two-thirds majority
He became the first-ever American pope late on Thursday after white smoke appeared from the Sistine Chapel to signify that a new pontiff had been chosen.
The choice of Leo is the first time the name has been used since Leo XIII – the pope from 1878 to 1903.
US media reaction included the New York Times stating that the decision defied ‘a long-standing belief that church leaders would never select a pope from a global superpower that already has considerable influence in world affairs.’
The Washington Post spoke to Rev Gregory Sakowicz, the rector at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago.
He said as soon as Robert Prevost had been elected to be pope, he looked out the window and at that moment the sun came out.
“It’s a great day for Chicago, the country and the world,” Sakowicz said, adding that upon hearing the news his congregation ‘erupted’ and acted like ‘the Chicago Bears won the Super Bowl’.
Prevost became a candidate for the papacy since Pope Francis appointed him head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, which vets bishop nominations around the world.
It also helped because he’s also a Peruvian citizen and had lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as bishop.
Francis, the first Latin American pope, clearly had his eye on Prevost and in many ways saw him as his heir apparent.
He sent Prevost to take over a complicated diocese in Peru in 2014, then brought him to the Vatican in 2023.
Earlier this year, Francis elevated Prevost into the senior ranks of cardinals, giving him prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals had.
Since arriving in Rome, Prevost had kept a low public profile but was well-known to the men who count.
Significantly, he presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope.
