"He is an American, but he's an American who has a really international experience," said an assistant professor at St. Louis University.

The pontiff held his first meeting with the news media at the Vatican and called on reporters to choose “the path of communication in favor of peace.”

He chose the name Pope Leo XIV. Matthew Gabriele ... the way that the Catholic church has been changing... Recognizing the global scope of the 1.4 billion Catholics that there are in the world ...

Erik Pohlmeier, bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine, is one of many welcoming Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, a 69-year-old Chicago native, as Pope Leo XIV, the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Pohlmeier described the appointing of the first American Pope in history as a “great honor,” in a public statement issued by the diocese.

Leo addressed a packed St. Peter's Square, echoing an urgent plea for peace that was a recurring theme of his predecessor, Pope Francis.