ROME – American Cardinal Robert Prevost (69) has been elected Catholic pope after a conclave of cardinals that lasted only two days. He will bear the name Pope Leo XIV.
The new pope, the first from the US, was born in Chicago and spent most of his clerical career as a missionary in Peru, according to Reuters.
The Catholic Church has around 1.4 billion members worldwide, including several million believers belonging to the Syriac Catholic, Chaldean and Syriac Maronite churches. The patriarchs of the latter two churches, respectively Mar Louis Sako and Mar Bechara Rai, are cardinals in the Catholic Church.
Patriarch Mar Louis Sako was present in the conclave in Rome. Mar Bechara Rai was not allowed to attend the conclave because of his age, over 80 years old.
