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We have a Pope, and he's the first American pontiff to lead the Roman Catholic Church. We'll explore the background of Robert Prevost, who becomes Pope Leo XIV.
Let's start in the Vatican, where cardinals have elected the first American Pope to lead the Roman Catholic Church. Cardinal Robert Prevost from Chicago has taken the name Pope Leo XIV.
This was the announcement, in Latin, by French Cardinal Dominique Mamberty.
Annunziobobis gaudium manium, abemus papam, eminentissimum accrearentissimum Domynum, dominum romanticum Julia And the cardinal said, we have a pope.
Shortly afterwards, the new pope took to the balcony of St Peter's Basilica in front of more than forty thousand worshippers.
Speaking in Italian, the newly -elected Pope Leo XIV addressed the crowd, sharing a message of peace.
May the peace be with all of you.
Brothers, sisters, dear friends, this is the first greeting of Christ resurrected, the Good Shepherd who has given life for the flock of God.
I would also like this greeting of peace to enter into our house in order to reach all our families, your families, to all people, wherever you are, to all people, to all of our earth.
May peace be with you.
Pope Leo especially paid tribute to his predecessor Francis.
Our correspondent Mark Lowen was in St. Peter's Square when the new pontiff emerged.
It was just an extraordinary moment, because actually I was on air for the BBC World Service just saying that we hadn't got any smoke.
So it suggested that the popes had not reached a decision.
And then suddenly, out of the blue at about 7 minutes past 6pm, Italian time, this almighty cheer went up as the Sistine Chapel chimney started billowing smoke.
And everybody realised it was white, and then the bells of St. Peter's Basilica chimed to confirm that it was indeed white smoke.
And this square, where I am now, which was packed with tens of thousands of people, just became so emotional.
There were cheers, there was applause, there were people, little kids sitting on the shoulders of parents, to watch this moment, that feeling that They were witnessing a historic moment for the Catholic church and its 1 .4 billion followers.
And then once again expectation as we waited and we turned our gaze from the Sistine Chapel chimney, a little bit to the left, to the balcony of the glorious 16th century St Peter's Basilica where the red curtains were closed and we waited for the next Pope to come out.
And then as Cardinal Momburti of France came out and announced him and announced the first ever American pope, the first ever North American pope.
But a man who also has Peruvian nationality and has spent so much time in Latin America in a sense kind of uniting the global north and the global south.
Just a moment of real ecstasy and jubilation here on St Peter's Square.
Mark, you mentioned that people feel like there is a sense of history and a historic new papacy in many ways.
the first pope from America.
This has also been the most diverse conclave in many years.
We are seeing pictures of people around the world carrying flags.
There have never been so many cardinals from countries around the world as there has been in the conclave this week.
Indeed, it is the biggest -ever conclave with 133 cardinals and the most geographically diverse with cardinals from 70 different countries.
So, many of us thought that this could drag on for another day or two, possibly into Friday or even the week.
Or not Saturday, because if it had been inconclusive at the end of Friday, they would have retired for a day of prayer on Saturday.
But that's all past history now, because we know that it was on the second day of the conclave that the cardinal electors found their man.
They reached 89 votes, a two -thirds majority in the cardinal electors, and they chose Robert Francis Prevost. He was born in Chicago but he was Bishop of Chicayo in Peru and spent a lot of his time in Peru.
As I say, you know, he's got that kind of Latin American feel to him as well.
A man who I think many people feel will kind of be a continuity from Pope Francis in terms of his views.
He is seen as a reformer to a large extent.
he's very close to late Pope Francis' views on the environment, his outreach to the poor and to migrants, and that was really a theme of his inaugural address here on St Peter's Square, as he came out to the cheers and the delight of the tens of thousands of people here, he talks about, the word that really was most often in his speech was peace, and that's so important of course in the world in which we live at the moment, with wars raging in Gaza, and Ukraine, and in parts of Africa and elsewhere.
This is a Pope who clearly will want his papal message, his first papal message, to be defined by peace, by humility, by dialogue, talking about the need to walk together, to build a church of dialogue.
He broke into Spanish at one point and made a reference, a shout out to Cichlayu, the city of which he was bishop in Peru.
That got a lot of cheers, of course, from the Spanish speaking people here on St. Peter's Square.
So now, we have a 267th Pope and it is a very, very historic moment.
And that was our correspondent Mark Lowen among the crowds in St. Peter's Square.
So how did the day unfold?
The conclave is an ancient process which follows centuries old conventions.
This is the moment white smoke appeared from a chimney in the roof of the Sistine Chapel, shortly after six o 'clock Italy time, signaling the election of the new pontiff.
Tens of thousands of worshippers in Saint Peter's Square broke into applause at the sight of the smoke and waved flags as they watched it billowing across the blue sky of Rome.
and the bells of St. Peter's Basilica rang out.
Just over an hour later, the name of the new Pope was announced.
So, how did the news go down in St. Peter's Square?
Craig is from America and was watching when Pope Leo XIV emerged.
He says he could barely contain his emotions.
Completely overwhelmed.
Completely overwhelmed.
it's completely overwhelmed.
I can't stop crying.
I'm overjoyed, I'm shaking, I'm filled with adrenaline.
I just expected to be a French or Italian pope, so to be an American is a huge blessing.
The fact that the Cardinals chose Robert Prevost making him the first American pontiff has surprised the world.
Our North America editor Sarah Smith has this reaction from Washington D .C.
We saw Donald Trump, the president, congratulating him, saying that it's an honor to realise that he will be the first American pope.
What excitement, what a great honour for our country he said, I mentioned that he looked forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV.
So Donald Trump is celebrating what I think a lot of Catholics here would think, a very, very significant moment, the first American pope.
Something of a surprise because Americans were always considered to be at a significant disadvantage and very unlikely.
to be chosen as the new pontiff, but now that we have an American one, I imagine they will be great celebrating here in America.
And what was, or do we know anything about Cardinal Prévost's relationship with the members of the American government or with Donald Trump or with JD Vance, the vice president?
Well, interesting. JD Vance of course is a devout Catholic who quite often talks about his faith when he's talking about politics, but Cardinal Proost, as he was at the time, has been on social media criticizing the vice president directly when he was using the Bible to back up Trump administration immigration policies, for instance, he was rebuked and criticized by the cardinal for that.
So he's somebody who certainly in his previous role was more than happy to speak out.
When he saw the administration doing something he didn't agree with, especially when using Christian teachings to try and justify their policies.
So it'd be very, very interesting to see if he continues in that way.
Because of course, as the first American vote, criticism of what the administration is doing would be that much louder.
Land that bit harder here in America as a result of him having been chosen.
Our North America editor, Sarah Smith, speaking to Mariam Moshiri.
So how are leaders across the world reacting, our Europe regional editor, Danny Eberhard, explains?
We've heard the congratulations from President Trump.
There's also been an excited reaction in Peru.
Pope Leo XIV spent a long time in Peru, who was the Bishop of Chiclayo, and he's also a naturalised Peruvian.
So the Peruvian press has been making a fuss of the fact that he's also the first Peruvian Pope as well as the first American.
And from European leaders, we've heard from Giorgia Maloney, the Italian Prime Minister, she says in a time marked by conflict and unrest, his words from the Loges della Benedizione, which is the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square, are a powerful call for peace, brotherhood and responsibility, a spiritual legacy that follows the path traced by Pope Francis and that Italy looks at with respect and hope.
Other European leaders such as the Polish president Andrei Duda, Poland obviously a very big Catholic nation, has called it a deeply moving moment.
He makes reference to Pope John Paul II, who was Polish, and the deep bond of spiritual unity that exists between Poland and the Papacy.
And he says, please accept the assurance of the readiness of the Republic of Poland to further strengthen these unique bonds in the name of shared values, responsibility for the common good and strengthening of peace in the world.
Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, says that she hopes that Leo XIV's papacy is guided by wisdom and strength as he leads the Catholic community and inspires the world through his commitment to peace and dialogue.
Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, has called it a historic moment and has addressed a fraternal message to him and Catholics so that the pontificate brings peace and hope.
Elsewhere, we've heard from President Vladimir Putin, who has also sent his congratulations.
He hopes for the development of constructive dialogue between Russia and the Vatican under the New Pontiff, obviously under Pope Francis.
There was a very difficult relationship because Pope Francis didn't name Russia and condemned Russia by name for the war in Ukraine but made it very clear that he opposed that war.
And in Africa, there has also been some response.
There was talk, before the election of Leo XIV, that perhaps an African may become Pope.
So President William Ruto of Kenya has sent his congratulations and to give you a flavour of that.
He says, and the sanctity of human dignity around the world.
Danny Eberhard. So, it took Cardinals just four rounds of votes to elect Robert Prevost as the first American Pope to lead the Roman Catholic Church. And, as our correspondent in St Peter's Square Mark Loewen explains, the announcement came as quite a surprise.
He wasn't seen as one of the top two or three candidates among us journalists, Julia, but he was thought of as Papabile, as the Italians say, which is the word meaning of a possible Pope, and so luckily we had a little profile of him among all the Cardinals whom we had profiled.
He's 69 and, yeah, in cardinal terms, that is relatively young to be chosen as Pope.
I mean Francis was 76 when he was chosen in 2013, so you know towards the end of the 60s, I mean he's at that kind of sweet spot, I suppose, for Cardinals where he's not too young, not too old.
It could be quite a lengthy papacy if Pope Leo XIV remains in good health.
So the Cardinals had to decide who they wanted and potentially for the long haul.
I can hazard a guess at what is the number one Google search this evening around the world as everyone frantically tries to find out more information about who is leading 1 .4 billion Catholics around the world.
Mark, what will this new Pope be doing this evening and in the coming days.
I imagine he won't be able to visit his favourite restaurant in Rome for quite some time.
I doubt it. I mean the lights are on on St Peter's Basilica now and the curtains are drawn so I'm sure he is resting whether it be in the rooms there on the top of the Basilica or whether he is resting in the papal study.
And on Sunday at noon will be his first Angelus prayer that is the prayer that they that the the Popes give to the audience here on some Peter square every Sunday it is a prayer that is usually given from the from the window of the papal study so that is what we expecting on Sunday what he hasn't planned for tomorrow we don't know maybe a day of rest after this intense moment the conclave we will never know exactly what happened and how many votes he got because of course it is such a secretive process but at least we know that he was elected after the fourth vote, getting the necessary two -thirds
majority, 89 votes in the card among the cardinal electors.
A hundred and thirty -three of them deciding it was time for the first time for an American pope.
Mark Loewen in the Vatican for us.
And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of The Global News podcast later.
If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, You can send us an email.
The address is globalpodcastatbbc .co .uk.
This edition was mixed by Rebecca Miller and the producer was Isabella Jewell.
The Editor is Karen Martin.
I'm Julia McFarland.
Until next time, goodbye.
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