Pope Leo XIV will be the Catholic Church's 267th leader.
VATICAN CITY -- The temporary chimney atop the Sistine Chapel released a plume of white smoke on Thursday evening local time, signaling that the 133 cardinals working inside had reached a two-thirds majority to elect a new pope for the Catholic Church.
American Cardinal Robert Prevost was shortly thereafter announced as the 267th pontiff. He chose the name Leo XIV, a senior cardinal deacon announced.
The 69-year-old Chicago native is the first American pope and is seen as a diplomat in the church.
"This is the first greeting of the risen Christ. May the peace be with you," Leo said in Italian in his first remarks as pope. "This is the peace of the risen Christ."
(The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report.)
Pope Leo XIV - history-making, the first American Pope. Now, David Muir reports from the Vatican in the breaking, new "20/20" special edition. Watch the premiere of "The American Pope | Leo XIV" tonight at 9/8c on ABC. Stream on Hulu and Disney+
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has become the first-ever American elected as the leader of the Catholic Church -- now known by his pontifical name of Pope Leo XIV.
The 69-year-old, born on the Southside of Chicago, is seen as a diplomat of the church and was an important adviser to his predecessor, Pope Francis.
Go here for everything we know about the newly announced Pope Leo XIV.
Father James Martin, a papal contributor to ABC, said he knows Pope Leo, formally Cardinal Robert Prevost, describing him as "very-down-to-earth."
Martin told ABC News the new pontiff is a "very kind person, very reserved."
Martin previously said days before the conclave's start that the American cardinal was a front-runner for the papacy.
In his first words, Pope Leo XIV, history's first American pope Robert Prevost, said "Peace be with you."
From the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, 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.
President Donald Trump congratulated the new pope in a Truth Social post.
"It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!" he said.
