Pope Leo XIV: Will the legacy of Pope Francis be continued?

On May 8th, when the white smoke came out of the chimney, the crowd on St. Peter’s Square in Rome cheered in excitement. With the conclave lasting only two days, the Catholic body of over 150,000 faithful waiting outside St. Peter’s Basilica were thrilled to see the new Pope.

The legacy of Pope Francis, a “pope of peripheries”, will be remembered as transformative. During his twelve-year pontificate, he addressed issues such as climate change, financial transparency in the Vatican, and clergy sexual-abuse scandals. Although he didn’t spark a revolution in the Catholic Church, he appealed to many. This humble Argentinian had the skill to unite people, and that’s how he will be marked in history.

On the day of his death, a question arose. Will his legacy and mission be continued? What path will the new Pontiff take? With several papal candidates, these uncertainties lingered in the air for almost three weeks. People feared the changes that could have been made by either the pro-LGBT cyclist Matteo Zuppi, charismatic Luis Antonio Tagle from the Philippines, or the conservative Fridolin Ambongo Besungu. However, no matter who was people’s favorite, the responsibility of choosing the new Pope was in the hands of 133 cardinal electors who came to Rome for the conclave. Locked in the Sistine Chapel until they select the successor, they say vows of secrecy and pray for God’s guidance between the votes.

Although the conclave seems like a complicated process, it comes down to only a few steps that repeat themselves when there is a vast discrepancy in results.

In the morning and evening sessions of voting, each cardinal writes down their vote and brings it to the Scrutineers sitting by the main table. A scrutineer is a person who oversees the voting process. In the Sistine Chapel, there are three of them. There, they declare: “I call as my witness Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who before God I think should be elected”, and put their vote in the ballot box. After all the votes are collected, each Scrutineer reads them out loud one by one, and the process is finished with piercing the ballot with a threaded needle and words “Eligo” (“I elect”). If there is no consensus, the votes are burned, and everything repeats in the next session.

This conclave was a quick success – white smoke appeared after only one day of voting, and the crowd on St. Peter’s Square, along the millions of people listening on radio or TV, heard the words: “Habemus Papam!”.  The anticipation had built up only to give way to a wave of cheers as the name of Robert Prevost echoed across the gathered.

“Peace be with you” were the first words of newly elected Pope Leo XIV. The information quickly spread around the world. Who is Robert Prevost? What future awaits the Catholic Church?

69-year-old Robert Francis Prevost is the 267th Pontiff. An American born in Chicago who spent much of his life in Peru, which has led him to obtain Peruvian citizenship, is a member of the Augustinian religious order. His relationship to Pope Francis was close since the Holy Father chose him to lead the Vatican’s bishop office. Prevost is the first American citizen in history to be elected pope. His experiences in South America and promoting social justice might have been helpful in the final decision of the cardinals. He is said to be “building bridges” in the North-South relations.

Prevost took his papal name after Leo XIII, a pope who ruled in the nineteenth century and strongly emphasized workers and the poor. Leo XIV now wants his Pontificate to be leading “a missionary Church” that seeks peace and charity. This seems like an extension of Pope Francis’s Pontificate, who is believed to have transformed the Catholic Church’s image. With his progressive attitude, he built a bridge between Catholics and non-Catholics. Now, Robert Prevost aims to continue doing the same.

For the first time in over a decade, the Chair of St. Peter is no longer shadowed by a silent advisory figure. With the deaths of both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, the election of Pope Leo XIV marks a return to a Church with just one voice at its center — solitary, unaided by living counsel, and fully visible. The world’s eyes are all on Leo XIV now. Let’s hope his Pontificate will be as successful as that of Francis’s.