{"id":54122,"date":"2025-05-08T18:35:28","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T18:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/catholic-church-gets-new-pope\/"},"modified":"2025-05-11T14:37:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T14:37:40","slug":"catholic-church-gets-new-pope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/catholic-church-gets-new-pope\/","title":{"rendered":"American Robert Prevost becomes new Catholic Pope \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

His selection was signaled by white smoke that billowed from the Sistine Chapel chimney, confirming the selection of a new Pope to lead the Roman Catholic Church. <\/p>\n

This traditional signal indicates a successful vote, where a candidate secured the required two-thirds majority\u2014out of the 133 voting cardinals\u2014during the conclave.<\/p>\n

Joyful cheers erupted from the crowds filling St. Peter’s Square as the white smoke, a sign of a successful vote, appeared. <\/p>\n

The identity of the new Pope is revealed in the traditional ceremony from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, when a senior cardinal announces “Habemus papam!”\u2014”We have a pope!”<\/p>\n

The new Pope also made his first public appearance on the balcony, and delivered his blessing to the faithful below.<\/p>\n

Pope Robert Francis Prevost, the successsor of Pope Francis, was born on 14 September 1955 in Chicago (Illinois, United States).<\/p>\n

He becomes the first American Pontiff. <\/p>\n

{{Background}}<\/p>\n

In 1977 Robert Francis Prevost entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine (O.S.A.) in the province of Our Lady of Good Counsel, in Saint Louis. <\/p>\n

On 29 August 1981 he gave his solemn vows. He studied at the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago, receiving a diploma in theology.<\/p>\n

At the age of 27 he was sent by the Order to Rome to study canon law at the Pontifical Saint Thomas Aquinas University (Angelicum). <\/p>\n

He received priestly ordination on 19 June 1982. He received his licentiate in 1984, and was then sent to work in the mission of Chulucanas, in Piura, Peru (1985-1986).<\/p>\n

In 1987 he was awarded a doctorate with the thesis: \u201cThe role of the local prior in the Order of Saint Augustine\u201d. <\/p>\n

In the same year he was elected director of vocations and director of the missions of the Augustinian province of \u201cMother of Good Counsel\u201d of Olympia Fields, Illinois, United States of America. <\/p>\n

In 1988 he was sent to the mission of Trujillo as director of the joint formation project for Augustinian aspirants in the Vicariates of Chulucanas, Iquitos and Apur\u00edmac. <\/p>\n

There he served as community prior (1988-1992), director of formation (1988-1998) and teacher of the professed (1992-1998). <\/p>\n

In the archdiocese of Trujillo he was judicial vicar (1989-1998), and professor of canon, patristic and moral law in the \u201cSan Carlos e San Marcelo\u201d Major Seminary.<\/p>\n

In 1999 he was elected provincial prior of the \u201cMother of Good Counsel\u201d province, Chicago. <\/p>\n

After two and a half years, the ordinary general Chapter elected him prior general, a ministry again entrusted to him in the 2007 ordinary general Chapter. <\/p>\n

In October 2013 he returned to his province (Chicago) to serve as teacher of the professed and provincial vicar, roles he held 3 November 2014, when Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, elevating him to the dignity of bishop and assigning him the titular diocese of Sufar. <\/p>\n

On 7 November he took canonical possession of the diocese in the presence of the apostolic nuncio James Patrick Green; he was ordained a bishop on 12 December, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in the cathedral of his diocese. <\/p>\n

He served as bishop of Chiclayo from 26 November 2015. In March 2018 he became second vice president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference. <\/p>\n

Pope Francis appointed him a member of the Congregation for the Clergy in 2019, and member of the Congregation for Bishops in 2020.<\/p>\n

On 15 April 2020, the Pope appointed him apostolic administrator of the diocese of Callao.<\/p>\n

On 30 January 2023 Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Prevost as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and presidet of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.<\/p>\n

He was created and proclaimed Cardinal by Pope Francis in the Consistory of 30 September 2023, of the Deaconry of Santa Monica<\/p>\n

\"American<\/figure>\n
\"White<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

American Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has been selected as the new Catholic Church’s Pope and has chosen the papal name of Leo XIV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":2000086851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[160],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-54122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-theophile-niyitegeka"],"bylines":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"contributors":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"featured_image":{"id":2000086851,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/leon0-55e9c_1_.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/leon0-55e9c_1_.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/leon0-55e9c_1_.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/leon0-55e9c_1_.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/leon0-55e9c_1_.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/leon0-55e9c_1_.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000086851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54122"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=54122"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=54122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}