The successor to Pope Francis has been announced after a conclave of 133 cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel for an ultra secretive voting process to select the new head of the Catholic Church

After a conclave lasting 24 hours, the Catholic world has a new leader.

Robert Prevost has been elected as the successor to Pope Francis, who died last month at the age of 88. He will be known as Pope Leo XIV.

From the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, history’s first US pope recalled that he was an Augustinian priest, but a Christian above all, and a bishop, “so we can all walk together.”

He spoke in Italian and then switched to Spanish, recalling his many years spent as a missionary and then archbishop of Chiclayo, Peru.

He stepped out onto St Peter’s balcony on Thursday evening to greet the crowds gathered in the square – and the world – for the first time as the 267th pope. He waves to the thousands in the square as they cheer and chant his name.

He will have spent the last hour or so in the Room of Tears next to the Sistine Chapel, formally accepting his election, having his papal name notarised and wearing the papal cassock for the first time.

Pope Leo XIV appears on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica after his election ( 
Image:
AP)
There were scenes of jubilation at the Vatican today, with nuns, priests and civilians all in tears at the sign of white smoke billowing from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, indicating the new pontiff had been selected.

Cardinals had returned to the Sistine Chapel on Thursday to resume voting for a new pope, after a first conclave ballot failed to find a winner and sent black smoke billowing through the chapel chimney. They had to secure the two-thirds majority, or 89 ballots, necessary to become the 267th pope.

He is the first pope from the US ( 
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)
Casting and counting ballots for a new pope had have taken longer than expected on Wednesday evening because of the large number of cardinals participating and the linguistic diversity among them.

Thousands of people descended on the Vatican to wait for the conclave to reach a decision ( 
Image:
Philip Coburn / Daily Mirror)
The voting cardinals began their behind-closed-doors meeting in Casa Santa Marta shortly before 5pm UK time on Wednesday. Pope Francis was elected in a similar amount of time in 2013, after five ballots on the second day of that conclave.

Pope Francis had appointed some 108 of the 133 cardinals who will choose his successor. Dubbed the people’s pope, he was a popular pontiff whose death on Easter Monday sparked tributes from leaders across the world and whose funeral drew hundreds of thousands of mourners.

Who is Pope Leo XIV?

The Chicago-born Prevost, 69, is prefect of the Vatican’s powerful dicastery for bishops, in charge of vetting nominations for bishops around the world. He has extensive experience in Peru, first as a missionary and then archbishop. Francis had an eye on him for years, sending him to run the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014. He held that position until 2023, when Francis brought him to Rome for his current role.

The new pope was formerly the prior general, or leader, of the Order of St. Augustine, formed in the 13th century as a community of “mendicant” friars dedicated to poverty, service and evangelization.

Robert Prevost has been elected as the successor t ( 
Image:
AP)The order’s requirements and ethos are traced to the fifth century St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the theological and devotional giants of early Christianity.

The order works in about 50 countries, according to its website, promoting a contemplative spirituality, communal living and service to others.