On May 8, the white smoke rose above St. Peter’s Basilica and the Seven Hills of Rome, heralding the election of a new Pontifex Maximus. Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, strode out onto the balcony after midday to the acclamation of the crowds below. Garbed in the traditional red papal mozzetta, the new Vicar of Christ gave his blessing to the faithful and the world and announced his hopes for the Catholic Church: “We have to look together how to be a missionary church, building bridges, dialogue, always open to receiving with open arms for everyone, like this square, open to all, to all who need our charity, our presence, dialogue, love.”

The relatively speedy conclave had only convened the previous day, belying the predictions that a divided Church would descend into a knock-down, drag-out deadlock.

The first pontiff to hail from the United States, Prevost was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1955. According to the Vatican’s official biography, he studied mathematics and philosophy at Villanova University before his ordination as a priest in 1982.

While........

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