The College of Cardinals has elected an American pope — a historic first in the Catholic Church’s 2,000-year history. Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, most recently led the Vatican’s powerful Office of Bishops in Rome.
Speaking Thursday just after the iconic white smoke emerged above the Sistine Chapel, Miami's Archbishop Thomas Wenski expressed his support of the 69-year-old pontiff — and his hope that he would make a papal visit to South Florida.
"Many people were skeptical of an American pope, but this pope spent most of his life outside of the United States working as a missionary in Peru. So he is more a citizen of the world than just a citizen of the United States," Wenski said.
Prevost had been a leading candidate for the papacy, but there had long been a taboo against a U.S. pope, given the geopolitical power the country already wields. But Prevost was seemingly eligible because he’s also a Peruvian citizen and had lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as bishop, and cardinals may have thought the 21st century world order could handle a U.S.-born pope.
READ MORE: Cardinal Robert Prevost becomes the first American pope, choosing the name Leo XIV
Given the new Pope's Vatican experience, Archbishop Wenski believes he is prepared to lead the Church’s more-than-one-billion faithful.
"I think he has a head start because for the past several years, he was involved in the naming of bishops. And so he knows pretty much what the lay of the land is in many countries," Wenski said.
The Archbishop also expressed hope for a papal visit to South Florida sometime in the future. It’s been nearly four decades since a Pope visited the region.
In his first words as Pope Francis’ successor, uttered from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, Leo said, “Peace be with you," and emphasized a message of "a disarmed and disarming peace" dialogue and missionary evangelization.
“Together, we must try to find out how to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, establishes dialogue, that’s always open to receive — like on this piazza with open arms — to be able to receive everybody that needs our charity, our presence, dialogue and love,” Leo said in near-perfect Italian.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
