Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has been elected pope, becoming the first pontiff from the United States.

Cardinal Dominique Mamberti announced the election of a new pope on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on Thursday afternoon, saying the Latin phrase “Habemus Papam,” which means “We have a pope.”

The 69-year-old pontiff from Chicago then appeared on the balcony and said, “Peace be with all of you,” addressing a huge crowd of cheering Catholics. 

He chose the name Pope Leo XIV.

Born in 1955 in Chicago, the new pope was ordained as a priest in 1982 and made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023.

Prevost has spent most of his career as a missionary in Peru and has dual Peruvian and U.S. nationality.