Arch­bish­op of Port-of-Spain Ja­son Gor­don has hailed the ap­point­ment of Pope Leo XIV as not just con­ti­nu­ity but a new tone of qui­et strength and mis­sion­ary fi­deli­ty in the Catholic Church.

Yes­ter­day, the Chica­go, US-born mis­sion­ary who spent his ca­reer min­is­ter­ing in Pe­ru and took over the Vat­i­can’s pow­er­ful of­fice of bish­ops was elect­ed the first pope from the Unit­ed States in the 2,000-year his­to­ry of the Catholic Church.

In his first words as Pope Fran­cis’ suc­ces­sor, re­al name Robert Pre­vost, ut­tered from the log­gia of St Pe­ter’s Basil­i­ca, said, “Peace be with you,” and em­pha­sised a mes­sage of peace, di­a­logue and mis­sion­ary evan­ge­li­sa­tion. The 69-year-old wore the tra­di­tion­al red cape of the pa­pa­cy—a cape that Fran­cis had es­chewed on his elec­tion in 2013. He spoke to the crowd in Ital­ian and Span­ish, but not Eng­lish.