History made as new pope chosen by cardinals and introduced to St Peter's Square at the Vatican

Cardinals have chosen a new pope, as white smoke is seen rising from the Sistine Chapel's chimney. The name of the pontiff was announced from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica by Cardinal Dominique Mamberti. 133 cardinals from around the world cast their ballots to elect cardinal Robert Prevost as the next pontiff. His chosen name is Leo XIV, the first American pope.

The Chicago-born Augustinian friar who has spent much of his life outside of the United States. Cardinal Robert Prevost, 69, was the head of the influential Vatican Dicastery for Bishops, the office tasked with advising the pope on bishop appointments around the world.

Born in Chicago in 1955, Prevost holds degrees from Villanova University in Pennsylvania, Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. In 1985, Prevost joined the Augustinian mission in Peru, becoming part of the religious order inspired by St. Augustine that seeks to find a balance of "love and learning." Augustinian friars lead semi-monastic lives and are engaged in a range of pursuits, such as education or prison work.

At age 30, Prevost went to work in Peru, serving there until 1999, with a brief stint back in Chicago in 1987 to work as pastor for vocations and director of missions for its Augustinian province. In 1999, Prevost was elected the head of the Augustinians' Chicago-based province. And then in 2001, he became prior general of the worldwide order, which he led until 2013. During that time, he was based in Rome but spent most of his time travelling, visiting the nearly 50 countries where the Augustinian order is present.

In 2014, Francis sent him back into the mission field, naming him bishop of Chiclayo, in northern Peru, where he served until the pope called him to Rome again for full-time service in the Roman Curia in 2023.

The Vatican State as well as the global church were alerted to the election of the new pope around 5pm. Marching bands paraded with the Swiss Guards as crowds swelled in St Peter’s Square. There was cheering and celebration amongst the gathered crowds in the Vatican as bells rang out.

The white smoke indicated that, after successive voting round, 133 sequestered cardinals have voted by a two-thirds majority for a new pope to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. After being dressed in his white papal robes and selecting a papal name, the new Pope makes his first address from the balcony.

The new pope’s identity was revealed by Dominique Mamberti, the senior cardinal deacon, who Vatican protocol manates to appear on St. Peter’s balcony that overlooks the square and announce, “Habemus Papam” — “We have a pope.” The cardinal then read the new pope’s birth name in Latin, and reveal the name that the new pope has chosen to be called.

The cardinals elected the new pope on their first full day of voting, making it one of the shorter conclaves in recent history. The longest conclave since the 20th century began took 14 rounds of balloting across five days, ending with the election of Pius XI in 1922. The shortest, electing Pius XII in 1939, took three ballots over two days.