Pope Leo XIV has been elected as the new head of the Catholic Church. He is the first American Pope in history. It took the conclave 3 days to elect Pope Leo XIV.
If you are confused on how different popes get elected , the Conclave has to get locked in the Sistine Chapel, which then it is down to the Cardinals to vote in a Pope. The cardinals travel from all over the world to Vatican City. The Cardinals do 4 votes a day, and then after each votings, the votes are counted and the ballots are burned.
If there is black smoke released from the chapel, then they will need to revote. If it is white smoke si released, then that means a new pope has been elected. T
he cardinals are not allowed to have any technology or communication with the outside world after they get locked into the Sistine Chapel and are not allowed to leave until the voting has ended.
Pope Leo’s (Robert Francis Prevost) Background: After his ordination, Prevost went to work as a missionary in Peru. He returned to the U.S. for a few years and then went back to Peru, where he ran an Augustinian seminary in Trujillo. In 2014, he was appointed apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru by Pope Francis, according to the Vatican. A year later, he became a bishop. Pope Francis made him a cardinal in 2023. Before becoming pope, Prevost, who is 69, was the head of the church’s Dicastery for Bishops, meaning he oversaw the selection of new bishops. Overall, he’s considered a centrist, but on many social issues, he’s seen as progressive, embracing marginalized groups like Francis, who championed migrants and the poor. But Prevost opposes ordaining women as deacons, for instance, so he’s seen as conservative on church doctrine.
