This story was originally reported by Mariel Padilla of The 19th. Meet Mariel and read more of her reporting on gender, politics and policy.
After a little more than 24 hours of anticipation, the telltale white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel on Thursday — signaling that the Roman Catholic Church’s 133 eligible cardinals had come to a two-thirds majority vote on who the next pope should be. The bells of St. Peter’s Basilica chimed, the crowd in St. Peter’s Square waved flags from different continents and chants could be heard: “Viva il Papa!” Long live the pope.
About an hour later, 69-year-old Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost emerged on the central balcony of the basilica in Vatican City as the new leader of the world’s largest Christian denomination — wearing the white papal cassock for the first time and choking back tears. Throngs of priests, nuns and Vatican employees could be seen on the surrounding rooftops, trying to catch a glimpse of their new spiritual father.
His chosen papal name: Leo XIV. He will now lead more than a billion Catholics around the world — including 53 million American Catholics. “Peace be with you all,” he said in Italian and Spanish from the balcony in his first public remarks. It is tradition for the new pope to offer a blessing from the balcony to the city and the world before a few additional remarks that often indicate how he plans to lead. He talked about building bridges and remaining “close to those who suffered” and emphasized peace and unity.
The names popes choose for their tenure also reflects the direction and vision they want for their papacy. Prevost’s chosen name aligns him with a lineage of Pope Leos known for strong leadership in adversity, including Leo XIII, who served in the late 1800s and emphasized the dignity and rights of the poor and working class. He is the first American to hold the papacy, as well as the first Peruvian citizen, having been naturalized after working in the country for decades. Born and raised in the Chicago area, he was ordained as a priest after studying in Rome and is fluent in Spanish and Italian.
The Catholic Church was at a crossroads, with many wondering whether new leadership would be more progressive like Francis or more conservative, like the majority of the American Catholic bishops. It appears he is pastorally aligned with Pope Francis, who named him a cardinal in 2023. Notably, Francis also asked him to preside over one the most revolutionary reforms, in which he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations are greenlit and sent to the pope.
Some advocates were against his candidacy for the papacy because he has been accused of mishandling sex abuse cases in Peru and Chicago. His dioceses have maintained that the accusations were handled according to Church policy at the time.
Leo’s papacy also comes at a time of tension between the Vatican and the Trump administration. A few months before he died, Pope Francis issued a letter to the church’s American bishops condemning the president’s approach to immigration and took direct aim at Vice President JD Vance’s attempts to use his Catholic faith to justify the administration’s deportation policies. Pope Leo XIV, then a cardinal, publicly agreed with Pope Francis and posted on social media that “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”
Here’s what Pope Leo XIV has said over the years on a number of issues:
LGBTQ+ people
While Pope Francis made substantial strides in pushing the church toward including LGBTQ+ people, Pope Leo XIV is seen as less progressive on queer issues. The New York Times noted in a recent story that as a bishop in Peru, he opposed a plan to include gender teaching in school, noting that, “The promotion of gender ideology is confusing, because it seeks to create genders that don’t exist.”
In speaking to bishops in 2012, he criticized Western news media for cultivating “sympathy” at odds with gospel including “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.”
It’s unclear if his views have changed since. He has not fully endorsed nor opposed a document that would bless people in same-sex unions in the church. That said, he had supported Pope Francis’ general aim to make the church more inclusive.
Immigration
Leo seems to be aligned with Francis on immigrant and migrant rights, particularly because of his time in Peru, though he has not made many public statements on the issue. Francis pushed back on multiple anti-immigrant actions from Trump in the last year of his life, subtly calling out Vice President JD Vance’s beliefs on the issue in a February letter. Meanwhile, Leo’s X account has reposted several statements that were critical of Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele’s deportation plans.
Abortion and reproductive care
The new pope has not made clear his views on reproductive health concerns such as access to abortion, contraception, in vitro fertilization (IVF) or surrogacy. Historically, the Catholic Church has opposed those forms of health care.
During his tenure, Pope Francis typically avoided highlighting reproductive health, though he was particularly critical of surrogacy and voiced concerns about IVF. He had also characterized the 2024 election as one that required Americans to choose between “the lesser of two evils,” citing Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ support of abortion rights and President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies.
Climate change
Leo follows Francis, who was known for his progressive beliefs on combating climate change and living sustainably. The new pope has signaled alignment with Francis’ environmental priorities. In the past, Leo stressed that the world should move “from words to action,” and that humans should have a reciprocal relationship with the environment. He supported the Vatican’s shift to solar panels and electric vehicle usage.
In the days after Pope Francis died, social media platforms were flooded with conclave content as people began posting videos, memes and pope predictions as if talking about a celebrity gala or reality television show. The conclave — a historically secretive and solemn election attended only by older men in red cloaks — had a wider following this time around, particularly among the young, non-religious and perpetually online.
Church leaders issued reminders that betting on the conclave results was immoral as it used to be an excommunicable offense. One Canadian conservative magazine even resurfaced a video of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who is from the Philippines, singing John Lennon’s “Imagine.” It quickly went viral. Influencers wore paper skull caps to mimic Catholic cardinals and video compilations of clergy were mixed with Charli XCX audio. The real conclave also came after the 2024 release of a movie called “Conclave” — sparking more widespread interest in the religious event.
There have been 266 popes from St. Peter — who was given the role by Jesus himself — to Pope Francis. Of those, 212 have been Italian men, but for the past 47 years, the world has known popes from other parts of the world. Pope John Paul II was the first Polish pontiff; Pope Benedict XVI was German; and Pope Francis, an Argentine, was the first from South America. And now there will be a new first – a pope from the United States.
Shefali Luthra, Kate Sosin and Marissa Martinez contributed reporting.
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