On Thursday, May 8, 2025, White smoke rose above the Sistine Chapel.  A short time later, Cardinal Robert Prevost, of Chicago, Illinois, stepped onto the balcony of the Vatican as Pope Leo the XIV.  He will be formally installed on Sunday, May 18, at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.  The first Augustinian and first American elevated to the Chair of St. Peter, he spent many years as a missionary in Peru. He was most recently the Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America