VATICAN CITY (AP) — Robert Prevost, a missionary who spent his career ministering in Peru and leads the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops, was elected the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church.

Prevost, a 69-year-old member of the Augustinian religious order, took the name Leo XIV. Pope Leo XIII, who was head of the Catholic Church from 1878 to 1903, laid the foundation for modern Catholic social thought, most famously with his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed workers’ rights and capitalism at the dawn of the industrial age. He criticized both laissez-faire capitalism and state-centric socialism, giving shape to a distinctly Catholic vein of economic teaching.

The new pope appeared on the loggia of St. Peter’s Square wearing the traditional red cape of the papacy — a cape that Pope Francis had eschewed on his election in 2013.

Prevost had been a leading candidate except for his nationality. There had long been a taboo against a U.S. pope, given the geopolitical power already wielded by the United States in the secular sphere. But Prevost, a Chicago native, was seemingly eligible also because he’s a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as an archbishop.

Francis clearly had his eye on Prevost and in many ways saw him as his heir apparent. He brought Prevost to the Vatican in 2023 to serve as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations from around the world, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church. As a result, Prevost had a prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals have.

The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers, priests made the sign of the cross and nuns wept as the crowd shouted “Viva il papa!” after the white smoke wafted into the late afternoon sky at 6:07 p.m. local time. Waving flags from around the world, tens of thousands of people waited to learn who had won.

Addressing the crowd after his election, Pope Leo XIV began with “Peace be with you.” He 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.

Eyes on the chimney

Earlier Thursday, large school groups joined the mix of humanity awaiting the outcome in St. Peter’s Square. They blended in with people participating in preplanned Holy Year pilgrimages and journalists from around the world who have descended on Rome to document the election.

Pedro Deget, 22, a finance student from Argentina, said he and his family visited Rome during the Argentine pope’s pontificate and were hoping for a new pope in Francis’ image.

“Francis did well in opening the church to the outside world, but on other fronts maybe he didn’t do enough. We’ll see if the next one will be able to do more,” Deget said from the piazza.

Greater Boston reacts to the new pope

Boston Archbishop Richard Henning issued a statement of joy upon the election of the new pope. “I join with Catholics in the Archdiocese of Boston and throughout the world, along with people of good will, in celebrating the election of Pope Leo XIV as the new Holy Father,” he said. “May he be for us a visible source and foundation of communion in faith.”

In Worcester, the College of the Holy Cross Religious Studies Professor Mathew Schmalz said the announcement of the first American Pope was “surprising and historic—something I did not expect—and the choice of the name Pope Leo XIV is especially significant, given Pope Leo XIII’s legacy of social vision and reform.”

Schmalz said there will be a group most likely disappointed with Prevost as the choice to lead the church, “Prevost does not seem to be aligned with the conservatives. I think that he represents an interesting compromise, American, Latin American, European, with worldwide experience.”

And unlike Pope Francis, Schmalz said, “He will bring cosmopolitanism and personal sensitivity. A historic choice. Interesting that he chose full papal regalia for his first appearance--unlike Pope Francis.”

Brad Pritts is president of Voice of the Faithful, a Catholic lay organization founded in 2002 in response to the priest sexual abuse scandal. He said the election of the first American pope was a bit of a shock.

“The so-called the smart money had been saying, ‘no American is going to be selected. That’s just not going to happen,’” Pritts said.

But he said he is pleased the new Pope has a background of working in Peru.

“Certainly, the fact that he spent many years of his ministry in the global south, I think is very important because that’s where our church’s growth is coming from.”

___

Giada Zampano, Helena Alves and Vanessa Gera contributed to this report.