VATICAN CITY — The conclave of 133 cardinals representing 70 countries elected Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as new pontiff on Thursday, after deliberating on who would be the new leader of the Catholic Church for less than a day.

The new pope has chosen Leo XIV as his name.

With black smoke appearing around noon on Thursday, the wait for the new pontiff continued. After a midday lunch break, the cardinals were to hold two more rounds of voting, but the first vote resulted in a yes.

The most geographically diverse College of Cardinals in the Catholic Church’s 2,000-year history has followed centuries-old rituals inside the Sistine Chapel to decide who will lead the 1.4 billion faithful.

In the past century, choosing a pontiff has taken between three and eight ballots.

And with that, an extraordinary day in Church history comes to a close. The white smoke has risen from the Sistine Chapel, and Catholics have a new pope: Robert Francis Prevost, now known to the world as Pope Leo XIV.

His election, while unexpected by many, confirms the old Roman saying: “Chi entra papa al conclave, esce cardinale – He who enters the conclave as pope, leaves as a cardinal.”

Indeed, none of the frontrunners, be it Vatican secretary of state Pietro Parolin or the widely admired cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, emerged victorious.

Once again, the Catholic Church has chosen a pontiff from the Americas, but not from Africa or Asia, as some had predicted.

Leo XIV also becomes the first-ever US pope, a choice, though not without potential tensions ahead in the Trump era.

His election came after just four ballots over two days, making it one of the shortest conclaves in modern history, a sign that the cardinals were eager to restore leadership quickly and project unity following the death of Pope Francis. — Euronews