P olitical figures around the world have congratulated Robert Francis Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV, after his election on Thursday, May 8, as pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. Hailing from Chicago and a dual U.S.-Peru national, Prevost is the first North American Pope and second from the Americas, after his late predecessor Francis.

Cardinal 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.